Sunday, September 2, 2007

Ever Closer to Maternity Leave

I'm am so ungodly tired today. After working a double yesterday (day to evening) I returned for my scheduled day shift this morning. For whatever strange reason I was assigned to the nursery though I'm here so rarely that I didn't know about the changes in charting for double-checking on circ consents and I much prefer to be on the midwife unit.

Two nights ago I was at a critical mass after party in my aunts back yard eating the Vietnamese springrolls I'd made and the fantastic chocolate cake her next door neightbor brought. With the recent rain we've had in the region came an onslaught of mosquitos, so though we've been suffering through a drought this summer we didn't have to contend with those tiny wing-ed vampires. If you can think of anything that mosquitos like better than swollen pregnant feet I wish you'd tell me. I got home and my feet, toes, ankles and soles were COVERED with bites. Que Miserable. They didn't bother me Friday night, but last night I woke for my middle of the night pee at three thirty and when I got back to bed I was overcome by an itch fit. I scratched at my poor feet, I kid you not, for twenty minutes, in the process waking my poor husband who galantly offered to see if we had something to spray on them. Fortunately we had some bactine which worked quite well, but at four a.m. I got on a coughing fit (I think the air conditioning makes me a wee bit phlegmy) and ultimately didn't fall asleep until sometime around four thirty. Then there was the regular tossing and turning (or rather lifting and turning that a thirty six week pregnant woman does) until the alarm clock rang.

Suffice it to say I am uber exhausted today and every cry, from every baby sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me. These kiddoes should be with their mamas, dammit! Not some cranky nurse in the nursery. As much as I'd love to rock and sshh them I don't have the arms or the time for it, we've got about ten discharges today, only three circs, but it looks like I'm going to have a new baby on my hands sometimes soon.

Ugh.

To top it all off my large scrubs are getting too small for this burgeoning belly. I fully expect a ten pounder, but I still feel sometimes like this belly is just going to pop! one day. Maternity leave can NOT come soon enough.

3 comments:

LaborPayne said...

Congrats,
didn't know you were pregnant. Are you planning a homebirth and if so, how do your collegues react.

Red Pomegranate said...

Thanks, and yes, I'm planning a second homebirth, waterbirth this time. As you can imagine I end up doing a bit of defending, but frankly I'm just not that interested in trying to educate those who should be able to edcuate themselves. I state that statistically planned homebirth is as safe if not safer than hospital birth and that I wouldn't feel safe or comfortable giving birth in a hospital and therefore would probably end up with a high-intervention birth. The pediatricians I work with are the worst though, one had the gall to ask if he could be there to do infant resusitation! I just try to block out all that negative shit and focus on the fact that I'm already a successful homebirther and that, hopefully, this birth will be even easier than my last!

LaborPayne said...

Good for you Red,
I've never had to endure the kind of pressure you are under. I've had six homebirths but none occured during the 7 years I worked as an L&D nurse (hmmm, now I wonder why I didn't get pregnant during those seven years). I was pregnant with my current baby (now 10 months old) with my last nursing job, but I quit after about six weeks so I hadn't told anyone yet. But I can imagine the things they would have said if they had known. Whenever they start to give you trouble, just know that you have support and there are others who believe strongly and are in agreement with your choices. My thoughts for a beautiful water birth are with you.