Posting from Colorado

I can't believe it has taken me so long to post! You would think being away from the clinic would have opened up a heap of free time for me. However, it seems just getting back into the normal routine of life and catching up from my time away is very time consuming. I feel as though I left everyone hanging when I left Bali. Matt arrived in Bali while I was attending a birth that ended in a transport to the hospital....and a beautiful cesarean birth.
I realize the true meaning of "cesarean birth" now rather than "cesarean section". When the circumstances change and we have to shift our birth plan we have to make the current situation the best we possibly can. We should mourn the loss of a vaginal birth, but at the same time we should try to lessen the trauma of the surgery as much as possible. We need to adapt to our new found situation by insuring that breastfeeding begins as soon as possible, getting baby and mama together so that bonding can begin right away, managing pain well and getting the mama comfortable, insuring that she has good information about what to expect from the healing process, and that she is supported in her joy and sadness. It is so important for her to know that she didn't fail...we just had to change course. I can honestly say that all of the births I managed where a cesarean became necessary, the surgery was truly necessary. I noticed a few births at the clinic where the mother was coached into pushing way too early, before she had a natural urge to push, which caused problems such as poor position of the baby.
I was honored to be able to attend the c-section of my patient pictured here, the doctor allowed me in to observe and take pictures of the birth. The mama, named Ati, was one of the most wonderful women I had the pleasure of working with. I have pictures of her cesarean birth, however I don't want to post them because it may be too much for some of you. However, I do have this picture of her breastfeeding right after the surgery. I got to bring the baby back into the surgery room right after the nurse assessed him and got him bundled up. Ati and I both had tears in our eyes when I brought her little dude right up to her face. She smothered him in kisses and we got to spend a little time just adoring him while she was stitched back up. It is really tough for the mama to not be able to see the baby right after a cesarean birth, but papa was waiting for him to arrive in the other room. The doctor actually chose me to attend the surgery instead of the father, which was a little strange at first, but after I spoke with the father we agreed that he wouldn't have wanted to see the surgery, it would have been too disturbing for him. Instead he welcomed his baby in the other room and was there for him when he was being "tortured" by the nurse:)

Now, I have to change gears a little bit to show you what I got to return home to! Here is my client Sabrina and her daughter Natalie. I am acting as her doula during her homebirth with another midwife. This is Sabrina's 3rd baby, and I will have attended all three...how lucky am I? Little Natalie was a footling breech born at home with no complications! Her first, a son Lucas, was a beautiful homebirth too. Number three is supposedly a boy, according to ultrasound, and his name is Liam...one of my favorite names for a boy. It just happens to be the Scottish (or Irish?) version of William, which is my father's name. Sabrina is from a great big family that is so supportive and loving, I am so lucky to have clients like these!!! I just wanted to give you all a little glimpse into my home life as now I think I have some readers from elsewhere in the world. One of my goals is to get more of my clients to post their own birth stories and photos, a work in progress.
Now, back to the conclusion of Bumi Sehat Clinic...I left Bali a little bit numb. Maybe I was preparing myself for the transition by detaching and putting my head down to forge ahead. When I arrived back home I had a serious case of, "Now What?" Life was so rich and engrossing at the clinic, I felt such a strong sense of purpose in what I was doing. That hectic pace had forced me into a beautiful place, where I was very focused and confident. Here at home I felt uncertain and bored...then the phone call came on Mother's Day! It was Bill, my mentor and my fellow midwife calling to ask me to rush over to a woman in labor. He needed me to attend to his client who was 45 minutes away from me and almost 3 hours away from him. He needed me to back him up. I drove as fast as I could to arrive at the home of Candace and Rusty, Candace had given birth to a beautiful baby girl just 10 minutes before I arrived. Quickly, I was back in my element..."oh, yeah, that's what I do!" Identity crisis solved, I was back in the game. I helped get everyone get settled and performed the immediate postpartum care for the mother/baby. What a great Mother's Day! Fortunately, it was a great birth to occur unattended...there were no complications. Everyone was a bit shaky when I arrived, but other than that, everything was great! I had attended this couples first birth several years before with Bill, so it was nice to reconnect with this family. Here is a picture of the family...sorry it is a little out of focus.


I am going to sign off for now. I realized that when I was at the clinic blogging was my social life. It was the only thing I did other than work, sleep and eat. Here at home there are so many distractions, relationships, projects, work and play...I have lost touch with the blog! I realize it was such a valuable sounding board for me, it allowed me to debrief to all of you and helped me process everything that was happening. Thank you all for listening...it means so much to me. Keep reading!!! More birth stories to come.