Posts tagged ‘Birth Stories’

Oct 20

We Deliver? How about we make it a better delivery?

permission from CartoonStock

Our Maternity Services

Need Help!

The Maternal Child care delivery system in this country as a whole needs vast improvement. All of these 10 steps as well as the 10 steps to ensure optimal successful breastfeeding are very important.

These items are sadly grossly misconstrued or ignored by many facilities offering maternity services in this country. I have been having the same discussions and occasional arguments with co-workers lately on this battle of the newborn baby staying in the moms room overnight!!! I know~ it is a no brainer to those of you who read, research and understand. Many of my co-workers still defend their philosophy that the baby needs to come into the nursery at night so the mom can sleep!! Many argue with me about labor positions and inductions!! AARRGGHH! I won’t get into our details right now…….

What I have here for you today is NOT new info but I recently reviewed it again as I was searching for evidence to back my discussions with staff. If you haven’t placed this information in your workplace to nudge some resistant peers, I urge you to do so!

This document : THE COALITION FOR IMPROVING MATERNITY SERVICES:
EVIDENCE BASIS FOR THE TEN STEPS OF MOTHER-FRIENDLY CARE can show you research studies or data which support the ten steps below.

The 10 steps for Mother-Friendly Care from CIMS {Coalition for Improving Maternity Services} taken from their website…..are:

Ten Steps of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative
For Mother-Friendly Hospitals, Birth Centers,* and Home Birth Services

To receive CIMS designation as “mother-friendly,” a hospital, birth center, or home birth service must carry out the above philosophical principles by fulfilling the Ten Steps of Mother-Friendly Care.

A mother-friendly hospital, birth center, or home birth service:

Offers all birthing mothers:

Unrestricted access to the birth companions of her choice, including fathers, partners, children, family members, and friends;

Unrestricted access to continuous emotional and physical support from a skilled woman—for example, a doula,* or labor-support professional;

Access to professional midwifery care.

Provides accurate descriptive and statistical information to the public about its practices and procedures for birth care, including measures of interventions and outcomes.

Provides culturally competent care—that is, care that is sensitive and responsive to the specific beliefs, values, and customs of the mother’s ethnicity and religion.

Provides the birthing woman with the freedom to walk, move about, and assume the positions of her choice during labor and birth (unless restriction is specifically required to correct a complication), and discourages the use of the lithotomy (flat on back with legs elevated) position.

Has clearly defined policies and procedures for:

collaborating and consulting throughout the perinatal period with other maternity services, including communicating with the original caregiver when transfer from one birth site to another is necessary;

linking the mother and baby to appropriate community resources, including prenatal and post-discharge follow-up and breastfeeding support.

Does not routinely employ practices and procedures that are unsupported by scientific evidence, including but not limited to the following:

shaving;

enemas;

IVs (intravenous drip);

withholding nourishment or water;

early rupture of membranes*;

electronic fetal monitoring;

Has an induction* rate of 10% or less;†

Has an episiotomy* rate of 20% or less, with a goal of 5% or less;

Has a total cesarean rate of 10% or less in community hospitals, and 15% or less in tertiary care (high-risk) hospitals;

Has a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) rate of 60% or more with a goal of 75% or more.

other interventions are limited as follows:

Educates staff in non-drug methods of pain relief, and does not promote the use of analgesic or anesthetic drugs not specifically required to correct a complication.

Encourages all mothers and families, including those with sick or premature newborns or infants with congenital problems, to touch, hold, breastfeed, and care for their babies to the extent compatible with their conditions.

Discourages non-religious circumcision of the newborn.

Strives to achieve the WHO-UNICEF “Ten Steps of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative” to promote successful breastfeeding:

Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff;

Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy;

Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding;

Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth;

Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants;

Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated;

Practice rooming in: allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day;

Encourage breastfeeding on demand;

Give no artificial teat or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants;

Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from hospitals or clinics

† This criterion is presently under review.

I endorse these steps. You can visit their website to also endorse.

Kathy from Woman to Woman Childbirth Education wrote about the CIMS press release on the Need for Transparency regarding the rising C/S rates. Excellent information is discussed here by the CIMS and I enjoyed the discussion between Kathy and RealityRounds.

I also would urge you all to visit and give information to The Birth Survey.

How is your birth place measuring up to these initiatives?

Let’s all continue to make this a better world

in which to give birth!!

Oct 6

5 Comments

**A Full Moon doesn’t always bring lots of babies**

A Full Moon Flight?

We had a Full Moon this past weekend. October 4th– according to my calender. Over the past 35+ years in this business, it has been my experience that the full moon does NOT bring all the babies! We had just one baby born this whole weekend…. and hardly any labor checks. It was eery Quiet. (The “Q” word. Something we only say after our shift!)

The weekend before, however, is another story! We had 13 deliveries during the 2 day wkend and L&D was packed most days during the whole week leading up to this full moon! We had to use a lot of overflow rooms for evals and non-stress tests. Everywhere I turned, it was crazy busy.. and not just in L&D. It seems we get more babies with high bilirubins, more early babies with transitional breathing problems and other little issues whenever we have high census!

In my experience, I have seen the most babies born either on a new moon or the week of waxing or waning of the full moon and not on the actual full moon. Is it like that where you work?? I would really like to know the experiences of other L&D nurses.

So tell me— what happens in your world?

Sep 20

2 Comments

No VBAC’s Banned: So Far so Good

iStock_000004564778Small My little hospital is not one of those hospitals which has banned VBAC’s.

We’ve been doing VBAC’s since 1984. Here is our first VBAC story. You may have read and heard that some places had specific policies against a mother attempting a VBAC. There is really only a small percentage of women who truly are not a good candidate for a vaginal delivery after a cesarean. (Having a previous vertical incision in the uterus for example). There are several places a mother can go to for facts, scientific research, honest information and support if her provider or hospital has denied her an opportunity to VBAC. If this has happened to you, it will be important to do your homework, get the facts and have a really good conversation with your provider. It is important to make an informed choice weighing your benefits and any potential risks.

We do just under a thousand deliveries a year.

From January through July 2009~

We had a 100% successful VBAC rate!!!!

We had 2 mom’s last month that ended up having to go for a cesarean after labor began. I don’t know all the numbers but I had looked over the perinatal data sheets yesterday and I was so very happy to see how we were doing.

Let’s hope we keep it up!

😉

Aug 24

15 Comments

Frustrations in Obstetrical Care …Culturally Sensitive? Oppressive Male Partners?

027 The drama that went on here this weekend would be fodder for 10 or more Jerry Springer shows!

~Unreal~

I kept thinking…

“Please help me”

I am not and never have been prejudiced or bigoted in thought process, personality or behavior towards others. I am actually on a campaign to help educate our staff on being culturally sensitive and delivering culturally competent care in relation to obstetrical, breastfeeding and newborn care…. I’m currently organizing a quick reference handbook so certain beliefs & cultural values are better understood by our staff.

This type of sensitivity is very important to me.

It may not matter how I say this. Despite me trying to convince you that I am not intending to offend any type of people…..someone will most likely get annoyed or upset. I don’t usually enter into this type of discussion. I am quite adept at diffusing anger. I am not singling out a problem with any specific culture, ethnicity, or country of origin. I am not attributing any certain behavior to any certain culture.

This weekend, we had mother’s giving birth who have recently arrived in the United States from the following areas: Argentina, Poland, Liberia, Egypt, Iraq, India, Dominican Republic and Nigeria. Sometimes their husband, boyfriend or significant other was from yet another different country. These are not unusual immigrants for our patient population. It is however, unusual to have such diversity in a single 2-3 day period!

My concern is this— As a health care provider– how do you even begin to try to understand another’s strong belief’s or values when you are treated with tremendous disrespect and confronted with attitudes which are unusually demanding of the caregivers to “provide” for any and all needs. Now this is of course what we do…. provide for the needs of those in our care. That includes our responsibility for understanding different certain religious beliefs, cultures and their various norms and values. But this should be done within an environment or culture of MUTUAL RESPECT.

As much as it is our responsibility to provide for those individuals in our care….. to be culturally sensitive. I feel there should at least be some responsibility on the part of the patient — and or their family- to learn what may be expected of them …. to communicate their history, needs and or wishes to the doctors and nurses~~ or at least to try to understand when it is explained to them at the time of birth and not lash out with anger or disrespect to their caregivers. Is it too much to ask for a little bit of responsibility to understand at least a little something about what is involved in childbirth, postpartum, newborn care and the legal recording of birth in the facility, state and country in which they have come to and chosen to give birth! {Many times I have been told they came here so their baby would be an American citizen.} Am I allowed to ask that those from other countries try to be somewhat sensitive to and try to understand our culture? I am not trying to victim blame here. Really. Many of the patients exhibited rude entitled behaviors and were very disrespectful to staff. We are all “others” to each other –> but one big blending of society. Lets ALL understand and respect each other.

Some of the behaviors we dealt with include:

A mother is married, the father of her baby is NOT her husband. The FOB becomes physically violent that his name can not be on the birth certificate–yet– until there is an affidavit submitted that the husband is not the father…. This turned into an all out fist fight between the the 2 men. “SECURITY!!”
A husband refused to allow his wife to be examined in labor during his absence, yet left for hours at a time demanding the hospital provide for his transportation to and from his business 15 – 20 miles away.
This same father would not allow his wife to speak for herself…. then called our unit many times after the birth when he was not there to say he was sure his wife was suffering from post-partum depression and we needed to treat her!
An unmarried young girl had a PFO against the father of her baby — She did NOT want to see his family yet that FOB’s family demanded to be allowed to visit, displaying hostility, speaking loudly and threatening staff in a non-English language outside the entrance to our unit!
Another mother delivered and the father of her baby was currently in jail on drug charges. She met the criteria (for other reasons) where she and her baby were screened for drugs…. Both were positive for cocaine and heroin… sadly.. 😦 This infant needed to be placed in protective custody of Children’s Services and treated for withdrawal. This is always difficult and heart wrenching. This mother spoke very little english, was ANGRY the tests were done and we were not able to help her understand a situation of this magnitude easily with the language line….
Frenzied inpatient banging on the window and yelling for the only nurses’s attention to simply ask a question or get more supplies for their infant even though she was involved in an exam with a doctor on a new very sick infant and had signaled she’d be there “in a moment’…
The family and multiple extended family members demanding minute by minute updates on a sick newborn, interrupting our care by knocking on the doors and windows to the nursery… after we have explained all minute by minute updates to the parents of that baby who were at the bedside. I have a feeling that culture may have placed a value on the elders decisions over the actual parents, but this mother did not want the father’s family to be in the nursery with her. They don’t understand HIPAA or even know what it is! My job is to support the mother and keep her informed and with her baby.
A family not wanting to answer most of the questions for the birth certificate because… it was simply an invasion of their privacy. Alright then.. it will remain blank and the Bureau of Vital Statistics can deal with it, right?
A father of a baby requesting then ultimately demanding to speak to the doctor ONLY for each and every one of his questions.. (I am just a nurse).. did I mention it was the weekend?? We don’t have doctors present 24/7 !

There are times when these situations unfortunately occur. Many times the individuals involved are Americans who are 2nd or 3rd generation of mixed ethnic background or are of no discernable ethnic or cultural background, have lived in this country all of their lives and still exhibit the same type difficult personality traits. Since they are more “Americanized” shall I say-or however is politically correct to discuss it— it isn’t so difficult to diffuse hostility’s, discuss options, assist with birth, newborn care, breastfeeding, do birth certificates…etc. It is my opinion that sometimes they understand things better simply from living here. We will ALWAYS encounter individuals with difficult personalities regardless of background who may be demanding in nature. They may not initially understand what’s happening but usually respond well to a gentle receptive approach.

That was NOT the case this weekend!

I only wish for strength and future guidance to help and support those who don’t quite understand.

Don’t yell at me or treat me with disrespect.

I ask those individuals new to our country to help themselves a little and learn some of our language and the framework for which we deliver our obstetrical care.

Please.

Aug 11

12 Comments

Not your Usual Birth Plan

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A birth plan is usually a written plan from the mother to her caregivers describing her wishes, what type of options she’d like to take advantage of, things she would like to happen thru out her labor and birth, what things are important to her as she experiences birth. There are various resources out there to help a new mom explore options and formulate a plan.. especially for a hospital birth. It is important that the mom review this with ALL her care providers AND especially the L&D nurses…. the advocates who help you actually realize the goals with in your plan. I have a fellow L&D nurse blogger who has done extensive research on the topic and wrote a 2 part series on Writing Your Birth Plan- Tips from an L&D Nurse over at nursingbirth. I would highly recommend you check it out especially if you plan on a hospital birth.

Many times these birth plans accompany a mom’s prenatal chart weeks in advance of her birth. Over the years there has been a gradual acceptance of the plans in my facility where historically, there had been much resistance for the mother’s input what so ever. Much like the attitudes towards homebirth…. The doctors or nurses would casually peruse the plan then toss it aside and have a good laugh…. saying…. ” oh- she’ll end up a section for sure!” Unfortunately, they were often right about that– many of those early birthplans never seemed to go as mom wanted, giving the staff fodder for snide comments and remarks. Sad but true. 😦

Recently, we recieved a birth plan that was not at all like any other. Maybe some of you have seen plans like this… maybe some of you actually wished for births like this…. Hey~ who am I to judge? …. I am only here to help, it isn’t my birth.

Her Birth Plan requested:

Pain medication as soon as possible….. I prefer to have an epidural as soon as possible
Please do not try to make me have breathing patterns through contractions… I’m afraid I’ll be too nervous
If a Cesearean is needed, please put me to sleep
I want only my mother with me in the labor and delivery of my baby
When the baby is born, I do NOT want to touch him until you clean him off
You can do his eye ointment and Vitamin shot, bath and all procedures before I hold him
I want to hold him wrapped in a blanket, not skin to skin
I want the baby to be in the nursery as much as possible at night so I can rest
I want to feed my baby formula from a bottle. I don’t want to breast-feed
I want to stay in the hospital for the whole allotted time so I can rest

My first thoughts were… Sweetheart, you could have ALL THIS without even asking!” ……..

Sadly, despite all efforts to improve, … things still happen exactly like this for many births. We just don’t usually see it written out as a formal request or plan! At least this is how this mother wanted things to happen.

This little mommy came in and delivered vaginally. Her plan was very easily carried out. 😉 I am very happy to report that she and her son were healthy and she displayed very postive interaction with him. Very loving and caring. She was very very happy with her birth and with being a mother!

That is all that really matters in the end. Options– and what you as an individual would like to have for your birth. How much education she had before chosing these options… I’ll never know.

Now I am asking the rest of cyberspace world.. have you ever seen birth plans like this???

Aug 2

6 Comments

WBW~ Breastfeeding in a Personal Disaster…. C.Michael’s Story

August 2nd…..Today is my son’s 24th birthday. Yeah…I’m old 😉 This is not really the theme of WBW but I will take this opportunity to tell his breastfeeding story on his birthday.

In 1985, I gave birth to my second son. C. Michael. He was 37 weeks and behaved like many near term babies… Breastfeeding got off to a slightly delayed start but then was awesome and without problems! Yay!

I wish C. Michael’s physical health was the same way.

C.M. was born with craniosynostosis. Specifically, saggital craniosynostosis. Infants skull bones are purposely NOT fused together at the time of birth so the head can mold as baby makes his way down the birth canal and into the world. The different skull bones will overlap easily along the suture line so as to fit thru the pelvis. These bones then gradually reshape and the sutures eventually fuse.

My son’s saggital suture line was prematurely fused…causing a misshappen head. When there is a premature fusion, the growth can only occur parallel to the fusion. The saggital suture goes from the anterior fontanel along the top of the head to the posterior fontanel. Parallel growth would cause his head to be really oblong, or football shaped.

We took him to 5 doctors to decide if we would have corrective surgery… Yes that’s right…. it had to be OUR decision. Although this is a birth defect and causes a visual deformity, it does NOT affect healthy brain function UNLESS there is fusion of more than one suture and growth is impeded. So it is cosmetic surgery.

We decided to go ahead with the surgery at age 3 months and had everything arranged at CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). The craniofacial team was amazingly supportive. I was so very scared. My husband and I could not sleep. I hadn’t been able to sleep well since he was diagnosed. How many new mom’s tell you the baby is sleeping but they can’t sleep??? I’m not going to get into the whole surgical procedure… but the main point of this story is how breastfeeding not only provided C.M. with the best nutrition and immune system protection, it also saved me thru my son’s ordeal. My husband was able to pre-donate blood so we both felt like we were doing everything physically possible as his parents to help him tolerate and recover from this major surgery.

I was so pleased to be able to sleep right next to him in the hospital. We had to go in the night before and the he was not allowed anything after 4 am… he could nurse up to that point. I woke him to nurse around 3 am. It was very bittersweet. I was crying and he was happily nursing, not know what was coming next. It was difficult just to see the IV placed, let alone the actual surgery. I was so grateful and happy they had done alot of pre-op procedures the night before when I could nurse him after each study. Now , when they wheeled him off to the OR, I was almost happy he had been slightly sedated because as hard as it was, I could never have handled him screaming at that point.

While he had the surgery, I headed first to the pumping room to try and get as much milk stored as possible. I had not been able to pump well before this so I had limited expectations. It was the first time I had used a hospital grade pump so I had much better volume than I expected. I stored a couple bottles and was feeling actively involved in his recovery already!

They called us to meet him outside of recovery a couple hours later. It was very difficult to see his head swollen and heavily bandaged. He had had a blood transfusion once already in the OR and they expected he would need more. Apparently the bone edges ooze when cut. We took turns with him until he wasn’t groggy any more, then, once awake…. I rarely left him. I was told he had to have a little bit of an electrolyte solution in a bottle first before I could nurse him, just to make sure he didn’t vomit. He was ready to nurse in about another hour. They took him out of the crib, with his massive head bandage, black and blue eyes and 2 IV lines….place him in my arms and we gently rocked and nursed. SendPicture12

I felt completely lost, even as a nurse or especially as a nurse…. because seeing your child like that is very difficult. I kept thinking all the worst possible complications would happen to him. I wanted to keep him safe, protect him. I struggled with tremendous guilt, thinking I must have done something to cause this to happen… It must have been my fault. Many parents go thru that, I’m sure. Breastfeeding him thru the hospitalization, two more blood transfusions and recovery period helped me feel like I was actively healing him. My husband felt similar thoughts because they used his blood for the first 2 transfusions. It was an empowering feeling.

I’ll close by saying that finally being finished with the decision process, the surgery completed (sucessfully I’m happy to say) and on the recovery road also cured my sleeplessness.

The night nurses at CHOP laughed at me! There I was, sleeping right next to my precious brave 3 month old post-op son…and they had to wake me up to tell me he was crying to feed in the night. 😉

What a handsome guy now!

Jul 28

7 Comments

Mama needs “ME” time…. How do you guys do it all?

Birth and Breastfeeding Blog? I haven’t been doing much blogging.. Hmmmm……I feel somewhat guilty…….I mean I feel like I have a lot going on in my life… but ~

I don’t have small children….. mine are grown and gone… for the most part.

I don’t work 5 days a week….I work 3..but they are 12 hour shifts

I barely cook… at least no really complicated meals… I’m not a crunchy (didn’t even know what that word meant) organic earthy person.. I try to eat well but — the easier, the better…or frozen 😉 is ok with me!

I don’t scrub-clean my house….. I like things orderly so I straighten, manage the dishwasher, blow the dust off frequently used areas, but hey, I gotta clean the bathroom.. that’s a must.

My husband does all my floors and his own laundry….. everyone in my house has always done their own laundry. My husband is just NOT a needy guy at all! He’s my dreamboat.

I’m not really married to my work… so to speak — but I’ve always taught my family that I have to care for people all day long at work…so they need to be independent where they can and help care for all their own needs. Mama is always available for the important stuff or talks.

Mama simply needs “ME” time..and a lot of it! It renews my spirit and rejuvenates my energy. Sometimes I feel like a selfish be-otch.. but I KNOW I need it. I’m worse with out it.

Today I worked on several work projects here at home… Some PowerPoint, outlines for projects in my Clinical Expert Applicant Curriculum…. Specifically on Evidence-Based Practice and research; Project participation within my organization… (searching for compelling ideas to stir up others enthusiasm); Community involvement; Cultural Diversity; Service Excellence and Preceptor/Mentoring of new nurses. Just a little somethin-somethin.

Oh and I forgot to mention a little thing called.. WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK !! August 1-7 (more on that very soon)

A lot of the blogs I read contain regular well researched posts. I have over a hundred posts still to read in my reader! I want to tell my stories but I don’t always have the energy to figure out ways to tell the essence of the story and change enough to protect the identities.

So I do a lot of thinking and dreaming about what I’ll write on this blog — without really writing. Don’t give up on me yet. If you are looking for something really cool or inspiring..I have it inside me head.. I do… it’s in there — still waiting to be gracefully typed with two fingers….

BUT

I’m probably watching a movie, reading a book or going out to lunch.
Fellow Bloggers… How do you pour it out on to the pages? I have a fairy tale impression of you all.

JUST HOW do you guys do it all?? Come clean with me.. are you all magical self-less supermom wizards?

Jul 19

16 Comments

HomeBirth Transfer~ Doc says NO to C/S~

I wrote a few stories a few weeks ago because I was proud of my hospital that week– sorry I didn’t finish the stories until now……

iStock_000004564778Small

~She lived about 8 -10 miles outside of town. “Ellie” was having her first baby at age 32. First baby, first pregnancy, no risk factors…. an easy uncomplicated pregnancy. She had done some research, not extensively, judging from some of my conversations with her and her husband…but she knew what she wanted. She had made a beautiful plan with a CPM for a water tub home birth. This particular midwife has been doing home-births in my area for a long time.. (She was the one cowering in the L&D hallway in this story…). The story of how things progressed up to transfer to the hospital was told to us by both the mother, father and midwife.

~Her labor started with regular contractions at 39 weeks. They progressed from early labor which lasted around 6 hours to a more active labor with contractions about every 2- 3 minutes. Her cervix had dilated to 6-7 cm. This pattern of contractions continued for hours. Ellie was in and out of the tub, walking, dozing, in and out of the shower, squatting, doing many different position changes throughout the next 6 to 8 hours. When she was re-examined by her midwife, she had made no cervical change in all that time. This can happen sometimes, things can stall out and pick back up again. Ellie reported that the contractions may not have been as strong at that, so she wanted to wait it out, maybe nap. The baby’s heart rate checks were all good.

~Everyone rested about 2 hours … Ellie’s water broke (clear fluid) about 1 am and her contractions got more intense. The CPM checked her cervix about 3 am and felt no change. She still was 6 -7 cm dilated and the head was at about -2 station. The midwife then brought up the idea of possibly transferring to the hospital. Ellie said NO! Is my baby alright? “Yes….” said her midwife.. “Then No..I’m staying here, — I can do this.”

~Back to the tub… In and out of the shower, total body massages.. contraction pattern the same with increased intensity…next cervix check at 730 am… still 6-7 cm. Now Ellie was tired. Really tired. Exhausted! The baby was great on all checks. Her midwife again brought up the transfer to hospital idea, talked to her about the possibilities of pitocin, epidural etc… Ellie was now wanting anything, agreeing with anything–to get this over with.

~She arrived at the hospital around 8- 830 am very upset. Her husband and midwife were with her and her CPM had all her prenatal care info. Some of the first words out of Ellie’s mouth were that she wanted an epidural and a Cesarean! The nurses on duty this morning were awesome! They calmed her down, had her hooked up to the fetal monitor and observed her contraction pattern and the fetal heart rate pattern response. The baby looked excellent! The midwife and hubby coached her through the contractions while the nurses gathered their admission data. The doctor checked her and she was still about 6-7, swelling of the cervix noted, about -1 station. Ellie asked him if he would please do a C/S and he said no… (yeah!). He said that he felt the best option at this time was to do the epidural she was asking for and observe her contraction pattern… possibly add Pitocin. He talked to her so nicely and non-judgmentally. Many of the other docs would have taken her right into the OR with very little discussion of options. She had been 6-7 cm dilated for some approximate 16 hours.

~After the epidural, Ellie and her husband and midwife all slept. The doc did NOT start pitocin right away, he said that she may need to rest and the contraction pattern couldstart to become of better quality once she rested and was better relaxed. WOW! Where did this guy come from? I’m so amazed and happy and quite frankly, shocked. This was a newer OB here.. I wanted to ask him where he’d been all my life! I went in to talk to Ellie and introduced myself. I told her I was so sorry thingsweren’t progressing the way she had hoped and sorry she didn’t get to stay home. She thanked me and said at this point, she was ready for it to be over! I told her she was really quite fortunate to have this particular doctor on duty today. Except for one bad apple from the night shift just leaving when Ellie arrived, everyone was wonderfully supportive and accommodating. Ellie’s contractions indeed did start up in a better intensity pattern on their own….. however their continued to be a lack of progress. Once again, she asked the doctor to get it over with now and please do a C/S.

~The doctor said NO again! He explained that her uterus was probably tired and the quality/intensity of contractions just may not be what was needed for the job to get done. He explained that the fetal heart rate tracing was beautiful and her membranes had been ruptured less than 12 hours. No baby risks… He felt it possible the baby merely needed to get in better position and the contraction quality needed to improve.. and then he would re-evaluate. Ellie agreed with renewed optimism. The pitocin drip was started. She didn’t need much before the contraction pattern got much stronger, longer and better quality. He came to re-evaluate her only after these better contractions had been consistent for 2 hours. The vaginal exam revealed the cervix was the same ..still the same and possibly more swollen. He said he felt the head was not as well applied to the cervix as it had been.. but still at -1 station. He examined her with and without a contraction. Same in his opinion. Ellie lost all her fight. Her support people rallied to help her, but she was now insistent.

~This time the doctor said she certainly had reason to feel this way, had given this a great try. He told her he still felt she could try longer… that we could alter positions with the pitocin, keep her comfortable with the epidural and keep going… the baby was handling all this just fine. He did say that there was a possibility the baby had his head in a tilted position making it difficult to descend the birth canal. He then let it up to her and told her if she wanted the C/S, he would do it at this point.

~YES I want a C/S! Ellie exclaimed. We did the C/S about 3 pm… some 7 hours after transfer and approximatelyclose to 24 hours of being 6-7cm dilated. Her gorgeous 7 lb baby boy was delivered operatively with apgar scores of 9 and 9. Pink and vigorous! Beautiful. I was able to get him skin to skin in the OR.. that was one of the first times all the players didn’t object and I went with it! (It won’t be the last….and next I’m trying for breastfeeding on the OR table!) Upon delivery, the OB noted the baby had been acynclitic . This is when the head is tilted to the side, ear towards the shoulder. It is probably responsible for her long stall in labor. The OB still felt she could have delivered vaginally given time and good management. I am just so happy he was there. I am proud of this mom, her partner and midwife and of our whole team! This mom was able to make good educated choices about her care despite dealing with the stress of a transfer.. and was able to feel so very very proud of how hard she tried.

In the end it was her…… who gave in to the C/S … not her doctor.

Of that we can be proud

🙂

Jun 16

9 Comments

I’m Proud of my Hospital….~ this week ~

~I’ve reason to be a little proud of the care given this week.

I hope this is a continuing trend of attention to detail, utilizing evidence-based practices and compassion, listening to our patients and providing them with options and the best possible care…. I’ll give you a few details about each as you read on… In summary, this week we have had the following situations:

A 25 week-er walk-in with a precipitous delivery stabilized & tranported quickly
Twins! Vertex/vertex –turned breech– turned vertex~ delivered vaginally
A Heroin/Cocaine addict identified, baby able to be treated appropriately so comfortable transition
Safe Haven newborn about 1 day old.. placed up for adoption
Homebirth Transfer handled with great respect overall and most importantly, the mother is happy with her experience.

Whew! We have a lot of busy weeks but they don’t always have this intensity or variety! I feel proud because there may have been a few things done differently due to recent conversations I’ve had…Plugs I’ve made… and I keeping putting in little plugs to try to gently increase awareness & educate. I am an Instructor in Neonatal Resuscitation and Lactation.. sometimes the troops listen when I talk about other topics…. I’m no expert but I try to be current, correct and compassionate in care. (My 4 c’s)

Okay… the details for the first 3… stay tuned for the others…..

~25 Week gestation walk-in~

She came in with mild cramps and pressure. She didn’t report any fluid leakage but did C/O pink vaginal mucus. We had her in an exam room pronto. She had a gentle speculum exam which revealed hour glassing membranes thru an approximate 4-5 cm cervix..visually. Hour-glassing means that the intact amniotic sac has protruded thru the partially dilated cervix and expanded like a bubble in the vagina. She went right into trendelenburg. The transfer teams were called. It was soon clear she would deliver here and the baby would need to be stabilized and transferred. The NICU team contacted us back they would be flying up to retrieve. The nurses caring for her were tremendously supportive. All procedures explained, options offered and decisions honored. They got her records faxed over from her OB’s office so we had a little history.

Like a well oiled machine (from all of our drills), all the emergency equipment was readied, pediatrician in attendance, roles clarified. Once he was born almost without warning, precipitously, all at once, about 30 minutes later. He was quickly assessed, wrapped in plastic, ventilated, then intubated. We had a peripheral IV in place in case he needed meds or fluid volume. He had a chest xray and a blood culture/blood count sent. He was kept warm, ventilated and appropriately oxygenated and had stable glucoses. He weighed in at about 700 gms (about 1 1/2 lbs). The team arrived when he was about 30 minutes old. They checked all labs, xrays and his IV line. They gave him Surfactant and pretty quickly and carefully, loaded him in the transport incubator then got him out to his mommy for a visit before he was transferred. They answered all her questions before they left and we helped her deal with it all. The doctors discharged her shortly after that so she could get down to her baby. At last report, he was doing just as expected for 25 wks, no other complications often seen at that gestation, for ELBW (Extremely Low BirthWeight) had come up. He was actually improving each day! So happy for everyone!

~Twins!~

She came in to the hospital already in very active labor at 37.5 weeks gestation. Her twins were both head down (vertex/vertex). She labored quickly, uneventfully and delivered Twin A at about 1 pm. With the ultrasound machine in the room, they scanned over her still pregnant belly to see where Twin B was and if he was still in position. Turns out that once Twin A had vacated the womb, baby B had a lot of room and he had moved into a transverse/breech position. That means he was more bottom first than head first anymore. Most Ob’s now don’t attempt a breech delivery even with the second twin. They are quick to do a C/S…. This day, however, …. the Ob in charge called over an associate to ask his opinion. They brought the mom into the OR and prepared to do a C/S if they were unable to get the baby in proper position. The point is they were at least going to TRY! With the U/S scanner and 2 assistants, they did an external version and worked Twin B back into a head down vertex position without complication. He delivered vaginally about 1 hour and 45 minutes after his brother! The staff kept the first twin in the room the whole time so they could all be together. I spoke to the Ob later and congratulated him on a great job.. he said to me that he remembered what we had talked about awhile ago (when I had written the post about a C/S for the 2nd twin), and had researched it himself. I was happy that any little plug I had made had sparked interest in researching the topic and possibly even influencing a decision towards better care! I am happy to report that both babies went home with mommy on day 2!

~A Heroin/Cocaine addict~
We are attempting to put together some consistant protocols for drug screening so that we don’t miss the opportunities to protect a newborn in need…. Some may not understand how important it is to sometimes screen the healthy and innocent to weed out those with problems…. They don’t always present in an obvious way. From my perspective, those individuals who are hiding something are very difficult to identify from outward appearance only. We identified a heroin/cocaine addict recently who was a very beautiful, well groomed, well nourished, affluent (seemed wealthy) woman who stated she was just visiting in our area, and had no prenatal care info or records with her…. she was in rip-roaring very active labor at 36 1/2 weeks with heavy vaginal bleeding and fetal distress. We thought we were headed to the OR but the baby had other ideas. We had little time to get more information before the baby was born. There was a small abruption but luckily, the baby was vigorous and did not seem to have suffered blood loss. The admitting nurse had collected a urine sample with a catheter insertion and sent it for drug screen. It came back positive for Opiates, Cocaine and THC. The baby’s urine also tested postive for Opiates, Cocaine and THC. Because we knew, we were able to start the NAS (Neonatal Abstinence Scoring) for signs of drug withdrawal and identify the signs quickly. If the baby is unable to be comforted by swaddling or holding or if we had 3 scores of 8 or higher, there are protocols set up for medicating the baby. The baby did require medication within 24 hrs. Once medicated, she was such a happy sweet little girl. The nurses named her “Molly” and we all loved her. She stayed with us all week until the pediatrician released her andChildren’s Services placed her in a foster home experienced with this kind of care. Unfortunately, some of the big drug problems have hit my area. Our local paper just did a big series of stories on local Heroin addiction problems. Apparently it is cheap and accessible.

I am going to publish this part tonite and tell the other two stories soon…

Jun 3

52 Comments

No Prenatal Care? …..What are YOU Hiding??

No Prenatal Care is usually a symptom of something--hiding some type of underlying problem. Sometimes it's very ugly. The most common encounters we have involve illicit drug use during pregnancy. We need to develop a comprehensive Maternal and Neonatal Drug Screening protocol to protect the newborn.