Day Six in Sarasota!!

So, here I am at day six in Sarasota. Tonight was my son's pinewood derby race with cub scouts, and I obviously missed it (and he came in last place so he was sad and disappointed.). Today was a clinic day, though I spent most of it writing up some paperwork for Christina. I treated myself to subway for lunch, and then we got a call about a possible labor. We got there and it was a false alarm, but such is life as a midwife!

Went back to the clinic later and got to visit with Jodi, the birth assistant that has worked with Christina since even before I did. Jodi is pregnant with Mono-di identical twin boys!! How exciting for her!!

Now I am winding down and getting ready for bed. Talked to my kids and my former father in law, wishing my guy would call, and hoping some babies start coming!!

Oh yes, I also made a looong blog post on post partum infection, and added new "followers" to my blog. And I facebooked some...and lectured via email on the midwifetobe yahoo group LOL!! I do need to write in my journal, but its in the van, I will get to that tomorrow.

Oh, I am sure you will all find this funny, but I squatted down to get something out of my bag this morning and *split* my jeans right at the back pocket!! luckily I was in the bedroom Christina is letting me use, and alone, so embarrassment avoided, however, they were my *favorite* pair of jeans!!! Sigh.

Finally

Caught up on sleep!! After the birth of the twins I went home and slept nearly twenty-four hours!! I was apparently quite tired!

Now I am up and going to Church today, cleaning up, and packing for my trip to Florida to assist my former preceptor at 8 births next month! I am so excited about this trip, I've missed my friends there and I miss working with my old preceptor.

I probably won't write again until I am in Florida, so until then!!
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The Birth of Celia and Penelope

This is the birth story of Celia and Penelope as seen through this midwife (student)'s eyes.

C and P have a special place in my heart. I was doing her initial prenatal in which I was pretty certain I discovered twins. I went with them to their first ultrasound which *confirmed* it was twins. I went with them to almost every subsequent ultrasound, and I have never seen a client work harder to have a healthy pregnancy than C did.

We immediately asked C to go on Dr. Tom Brewer's diet for twins, and she did. And her babies continued to grow, and she never had any preterm labor symptoms. Everything was as perfect as we could ask for, with fraternal twins with two placentas, what they call di-di twins (which means that they are in separate chorion *and* separate amnion (the two sacs which make up the "bag of waters")) and they were both growing consistently, and both were presenting vertex (which means head down). This all is as ideal as it can get for an out-of-hospital birth of twins.

At around week 32, at the ultrasound, we discovered that they had turned from vertex/vertex to breech/breech. "Those little buggers!" We thought, but that's ok, we have a small arsenal of tricks up our sleeves for that! We had her get acupuncture, the webster technique, follow the advice on spinning babies, and take pulsatilla homeopathic. We were determined to get these babies to turn. At the last ultrasound, the babies appeared to be footling breech/vertex, which in the medical world is considered the *most* dangerous positions for twins to be in, and our back up OBGYN began talking section. None of us could believe everything was so perfect up until this point, and now things looked like we had limited options.

Linda asked me to try to track down a specific midwife (hereafter called "V") who has attended over 3000 births to see what she thought, and if there was any possibility that she might come to assist us with these twins. We knew it was a long shot (by far!) But were willing to try anything. We knew we would not be delivering these babies at the clinic without more experienced help there. I tracked her down, contacted her, she responded by giving me her personal contact information! Less than a week later she had a plane ticket to come supervise the births!

At 38 weeks and 2 days V arrived. Late the next morning C began having contractions and by about 1745 hours she entered into active phase. I called Andrea who was on her way. V did a vaginal exam to get an idea of what the presenting parts were, and found a foot, and a head! Well, seems these girls are going to vye for the title of "first born" and we wondered who would win! C's contractions were pretty far apart, and short, but dilating the cervix well so we didn't mind much. Upon next exam V found a presenting part of head, with hands up on each side of the head. Next exam she found two feet, and we decided that would be the presenting baby.

Just as C entered second stage, the presenting part was feet, with the other baby's head trying to move down first.

V thought we could coax the babies into letting the head down come first with some external uterine massage and poking the feet internally too. She thought for sure the head was down and feet were up and the vertex would be born first, but at the last minute the footling put her feet back down so that the vertex baby's head was basically in the footling's *lap*! Well that won't work, so V quickly massaged the vertex baby back up, and we held her there (the stinker!) And next thing we know, we have a tiny foot born. The double footling breech won her first fight with her sister!

Then we have two feet. Then up to the knees, the thighs, all the while V was keeping the legs warm with wet warm wash cloths. Then we have a hip! And another hip! And baby born to the umbilicus! Next push V sweeps the arms down, and baby is born to the nape of the neck. She skillfully lifts the baby upside down by the feet in order to allow the face to sweep the perineum. Because the baby did not do so smoothly and V didn't want C to tear, she handed me the feet and told me to hold baby just like that, while moving her at an angle to try to help it sweep. I did so, and a few seconds later V had manipulated the head completely out!! She immediately checked to see what presenting part baby B was, vertex, and everyone relaxed. Whew!
After a little bit, C asked me to take baby Penny so she could focus on pushing baby Celia out. An hour and thirteen minutes after Penny, Celia was born! Both babies had *amazing* APGARS of 8 and 9. Both babies had short cords, Celia's being so short we couldn't even lay her on C's stomach. Both babies were latching on and nursing well shortly after birth. And C didn't tear at all! What an amazing mama!

Penelope was born at 0413 hours on February 20, 2010 weighing 5lbs13oz and Celia was born at 0527 hours on February 20, 2010 weighing 6lbs8oz! Welcome to the world little ones!

Now this midwife (student) is going to try to get some sleep.
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The Week Ahead

We have had a busy past week at the clinic, having two babies and such. This weekend I will spend cleaning my house, and cleaning the clinic.

Tomorrow I will take the kids to Mass just like every other Sunday they are with me, then to McDonald's to play. Rescheduled Bobby's birthday party so we might have that tomorrow as well. Hoping tomorrow night I might get to see Andy, but I am not sure, as I haven't really heard from him except a few short txt messages.

Monday is President's day, and I'll probably spend it cleaning and with my kids as well. And might have B's party then, if the people can't make it tomorrow.

Tuesday I am meeting a friend at Barnes and Nobles in the morning and then *hoping* for a lunch date with Andy at the sushi place near B&N that afternoon. I know, I have high hopes for that day LOL!

Wednesday is another clinic day these days (too busy to have just one) so I will be at the clinic then.

Thursday is a *very* busy clinic day, so I will be there pretty much all day. Thursday night our midwife help flies in to help us for the twins delivery. I can't believe she will be 38 weeks on Tuesday! Go C! What an amazing mommy! My kids also leave Thursday for Ohio, they'll be gone until very late Sunday. Andy will spend those few nights with me, I hate being alone in this house!

Sometime between Thursday and Sunday we expect the twins to be born!!

Friday while Andy is at work I will be at the clinic, and if the twins mommy goes into labor I'll be there until she has the babies!

Saturday I haven't any plans. Andy has robot that day, so I will probably go to the clinic (especially if she hasn't gone into labor yet). Might go to Mass with Andy Saturday night, we'll have to see.

So, that's me outlook for the week, sounds like a busy and fun week!

Finally, A School Day!

My kids have been out of school and were "blessed" with a four day weekend this past weekend, due to weather. Though I know they thought it was super cool, their mommy, on the other hand, has become behind on her work as a result! Oh what I wouldn't do for high speed internet at my house so that I could work while home with the kids!

So today they are all finally back in school (yay!) and their mommy is back to work here at the clinic. Today we have the final ultrasound for our twins mommy before she has her babies (which should be some time this month!) and then just cleaning and organizing around the clinic. I should be working on MTB MOODLE today, but I just feel swamped with things here to do, so I am going to put it off for a few more days. Once I get working on it, I will probably finish getting it all live within a day.

Tomorrow I believe Andrea is going to come to the clinic so we can practice our skills for the skills assessment that we will have to take later this year. It is day one of practicing, we'll see how it goes! I will probably look through the book today and see which skills we will practice tomorrow, I am super organized and it works out for both of us that I am, because we can be very efficient with our time. We don't have any clients to see tomorrow, but we do have another *very* busy Thursday, as we have so many people do in the next few months and it is filling our clinic days very fast.

I think I am going to suggest to Linda that we offer an alternative clinic day to, at least during this busy part of the year, as we are booking up every week pretty much with clients, and it seems that we may end up with overflow here in another week or two!

I am watching the clients keep coming in, and hoping that we manage to get all of our numbers in time to sit for our exam in February of next year, but I would appreciate prayers, and referrals to the clinic! LOL!!

My baby's birthday is coming up. He was born on Valentine's day of 2005. And no, I was not induced! I am going to post his birth story on here in a few days, when I manage to track it down online. I'll have to ask the mothers from the parenting group in Florida that I founded to see if one of them will look it up in the group archives.

We are still waiting on a baby, who is due this Thursday, and I expect the baby will come Saturday or Sunday. We also have one mom who is teetering on the edge of labor but we're all praying she keeps the baby in for another 13 days, so she will be 37 weeks. Prayers for her would be appreciated.

The Count Down Continues

The count down continues...as seems to be the center of my life right now. We currently have 17 clients due before October, and I need 15 more in order for me to sit for my NARM exam in February 2011. I pray on a daily basis that these numbers appear out of no where for me. I pray that we have a full 10 months with lots of beautiful births. I pray that I find a way to save the money for my Skills Assessment with the QE (it will be $700) and then that I also find a way to save the money for the actual exam (another $700). I pray for the ability to absorb as much knowledge as I can all at once.

Andrea needs another 20 on top of the numbers that we have, and I am hoping they come quickly for both of us. We really do need to get this finished and get our licenses. If I had the money, I'd just go to the Philipeans and finish my numbers there, but that is just not possible in my current life. So, let the women keep coming. They seem to keep coming.

I have a slow week scheduled for this week, with not much planned on non-clinic days. I will spend most of the week just trying to finish the MTB moodle website, I am almost there! I only have 5.5 more units to go live, and then I can start doing more nitpicky stuff on it!

Our twins mommy needs your special prayers right now as well. We are praying that these babies begin to cooperate and turn to the most desirable head down position prior to her next ultrasound which is February 2nd. Please pray for this family!

We are currently waiting on one mom who could have her baby at any time, but whom we do not expect to go into labor until mid week next week. Pray that she has a beautiful, easy labor and a healthy baby!

Until then!

Back at Moodle!

So, I am back at working on MOODLE now after taking a break during the winter holidays. I have felt so overwhelmed with everything, with life, that I really just needed a break from it all. Lily's beautiful birth was invigorating, and now I feel like I can start conquering my life again, one step at a time. I am already thinking of ways to improve the moodle environment, and I am not even done uploading the initial curriculum. It has ended up being something to keep me busy, entertained, distracted, and focused all at the same time, at times the work I need to do on moodle has been a Godsend.

We have a few new clients here at the clinic, and our count right now is 14 clients through August! I only need 18 more, Andrea needs 23 more, and we combined need 29 more by October in order to get our paperwork turned in on time to sit for the February 2011 NARM exam!

The twins mommy went to the accupuncturist on Saturday, and the good news is she *thinks* they have both turned back to head down!! This is great news, and we will confirm it by palpatation and finding FHT's by doppler in a few days. Ultimately we will have confirmation by ultrasound in another 3 weeks (she goes for monthly ultrasounds) and at that time, she will be able to have the babies at any time!!

We have a busy clinic day this Thursday, we are up to five clients coming now on that day. I love busy clinic days!

The workshop is next week! I can't believe it is already time for the next workshop. I have a surprise in store for these students, and am giddy with anticipation over it! I love doing these workshops, but they wear out Andrea and Linda and I. I will be glad to start it, but glad for it to be over too, so that we can focus on planning the next one!!!

Our Christmas Baby, and other updates

Our Christmas baby could come any day, and I am in the mood for a birth! We are all excited to meet baby Lily. I have been sleeping with my cell phone, with the volume turned all the way up, and trying to get to bed early in case I get a call in the middle of the night.

Other news at the clinic? The clinic cookie exchange party was wonderful, and lots of fun. I met many new people, including the local bradley instructor. The clinic is decorated so beautifully for Christmas. I am having a more difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit this year because it will be my first Christmas away from my children, and pretty much away from all family.

I have decided to take a break from setting up MTB moodle, and will come back to it after the first of the year.

Our twins' mommy looks beautiful, I love how beautiful her belly looks. Every time I see her I compliment her because she is just glowing!! Both of her babies are still vertex (head down) and in the ideal situation for a clinic birth. We are so excited to be able to be a part of her pregnancy!

We have had several other clients come in that are new, and our year next year is really shaping up to be pretty busy. With any luck, Andrea and I will be able to complete our numbers so that we can sit for the NARM exam soon!

Tomorrow is clinic day! I love clinic days, they are so fullfilling for me. It is one of the few places and times in my life that I feel totally in my place, in my element.

I know it's been a while

and I apologize to anyone who is reading along with my blog. I am not usually such a slacker when it comes to journaling (as can be seen by my dozens of journals that hold the last twenty years of my life in them stacked in my closet.....) but this last month has been so busy. We have had several new clients come to the clinic, plus the holidays are in full swing. I have been busy setting up the Midwife-To-Be moodle community for all of the students, and have been frustrated as well as joyous at the work involved to get it set up.

We are expecting a baby soon, she is 37 weeks now and in the count down, can go anytime! I am officially sleeping with my cell phone again, to make sure I don't miss a call! We have been busy turning babies who were stubbornly staying transverse lie as well as doing the cookie exchange party.

I am hoping to finish the moodle project before the end of the year, and I should at my current rate of progress!

We have also been very busy organizing another basic skills workshop for January, I am so excited to be offering this service to students across the country once again. My preceptor is awesome!

Tomorrow we have another Ultrasound for the twins' mommy, and I will post and update on how her babies are doing after that.

Until then!