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It's just after 7pm and I am running on fumes at the moment. I'm outta here as soon as I finish this post, off to home, my husband and bed. I need to be gathered into both his arms as well as Morpheus'. Some out there will accuse me of magikal thinking, (I can hear you right this moment James, proclaiming, "J'accuse!") but some level I really feel like I did this to myself.
Late yesterday afternoon a very sweet young woman, not quite 38 weeks along with her first child, asked me at the front desk, at the end of her visit, if it was OK if she went in to labor now. I took her question to mean was it safe, if she did happened to as she's still early.
I grinned and told her after 37 weeks, pregnancies are considered "term". I laughed and said even though it would be technically a couple of weeks early, the baby would be ready to be on the outside. I then added, "So it's fine with me; you can go into labor now, any time you want!" She chortled. Her husband guffawed. They made an appointment for next week.
Damn, if I didn't get a phone call at two this morning from them. She started labor at 1am.
I sent them over to the hospital to get checked figuring, with the first baby I would still get to sleep till morning.
Less than an hour later L&D called. Her cervix was already measuring 5 cm after less than two hours of labor, on her first child. Those are some serious contractions. Still, on a first child, you'd expect the active phase of labor to take another hour or two per centimeter, and with her needing to get to 10 before she could push, I figured I still could sleep, especially given both mama and baby looked fine.
However, I never sleep very well when I have someone in labor. It's a light and often fitful sleep, one ear still half awake listening for the phone. At half past three, L&D called again.
"She's 8."
"Excuse me?"
"Your patient. She's 8!"
"Sorry, I heard you just fine; I just couldn't believe you. This is her first!"
"Perhaps, but she's 8."
"I'm getting up. I'll be there in 45 minutes."
Well, she wasn't quite 8 cm when I get there, but still 7 cm is quite respectable after only 3 hours of labor, your first time around. By five of seven, all was said and done. By the time the baby exam, and all the paperwork was finished, it was 9 and time to head for work.
Mom, Dad, and the baby, got to go off to sleep - and granted, each of them had a greater right to claim exhaustion than I but still, I got to go to work, rather than back to sleep.
The price I pay, for the privilege of welcoming a new life into this world. I've said before, I would rather deliver a child than eat or sleep (or truth told even have sex, but PLEASE don't tell my husband!). However, I just wish newborns and uteri could time themselves a bit better.
Late yesterday afternoon a very sweet young woman, not quite 38 weeks along with her first child, asked me at the front desk, at the end of her visit, if it was OK if she went in to labor now. I took her question to mean was it safe, if she did happened to as she's still early.
I grinned and told her after 37 weeks, pregnancies are considered "term". I laughed and said even though it would be technically a couple of weeks early, the baby would be ready to be on the outside. I then added, "So it's fine with me; you can go into labor now, any time you want!" She chortled. Her husband guffawed. They made an appointment for next week.
Damn, if I didn't get a phone call at two this morning from them. She started labor at 1am.
I sent them over to the hospital to get checked figuring, with the first baby I would still get to sleep till morning.
Less than an hour later L&D called. Her cervix was already measuring 5 cm after less than two hours of labor, on her first child. Those are some serious contractions. Still, on a first child, you'd expect the active phase of labor to take another hour or two per centimeter, and with her needing to get to 10 before she could push, I figured I still could sleep, especially given both mama and baby looked fine.
However, I never sleep very well when I have someone in labor. It's a light and often fitful sleep, one ear still half awake listening for the phone. At half past three, L&D called again.
"She's 8."
"Excuse me?"
"Your patient. She's 8!"
"Sorry, I heard you just fine; I just couldn't believe you. This is her first!"
"Perhaps, but she's 8."
"I'm getting up. I'll be there in 45 minutes."
Well, she wasn't quite 8 cm when I get there, but still 7 cm is quite respectable after only 3 hours of labor, your first time around. By five of seven, all was said and done. By the time the baby exam, and all the paperwork was finished, it was 9 and time to head for work.
Mom, Dad, and the baby, got to go off to sleep - and granted, each of them had a greater right to claim exhaustion than I but still, I got to go to work, rather than back to sleep.
The price I pay, for the privilege of welcoming a new life into this world. I've said before, I would rather deliver a child than eat or sleep (or truth told even have sex, but PLEASE don't tell my husband!). However, I just wish newborns and uteri could time themselves a bit better.
