Time off and Paris!

Firstly apologies for the lack of posts recently but well I've been enjoying my time off from Uni and studying. I'm now preparing for 2nd year and expecting the coming year to be a lot tougher. During my time off I've enjoyed seeing friends who I've not seen for a while and just catching up. I've been to visit a school friend, whom I hadn't seen since before the birth of my three year old and who now has a baby of her own. And I spent a weekend in Paris with some of my photography group friends.

I am lucky because I have amazing friends who not only 100% believe in me and support me but also appreciate that sometimes they might not see me for ages - partly due to the course but also sometimes the family things that I have going on. It never really seems to matter, whenever we meet up it's like we only saw each other the week before. Isn't that the beauty of true friendship though!

Anyway my weekend in Paris....well first I ought to explain our group I guess. Some time ago a member of a forum I belong to, decided to begin a Photo A Day project and invited anyone who wanted to join her to a group on Flickr. The aim was to have a record of their year by taking a photo, of whatever they wanted, every day and uploading it to the group to share. Every year new members join, from all around the world, and the level of ability doesn't matter because it's a record for you not for anyone else. That said, most people find they just get better at taking photos because we learn from each other. There are various photo a day groups on Flickr but none so supportive as ours I think.

Two years ago some of us took a trip to London, stayed up all night to take pictures of our capital at night time. I learnt a lot about my camera that night and quite a lot about London too. I now have a framed photo of London Bridge at night on my wall and I would never have thought I could have taken that good a photo before.

I repeated the experience with some different members the following year and it was following this trip that the idea of Paris was first suggested, by a fellow member of the group, Marie, that we organise a trip to Paris to take photos and get together. Along the way the idea was also suggested that we not only get together in Paris but that we also Rock The Frock...if this is a phrase you are not familiar with then let me explain. Have you ever had a gorgeous dress that you would just love to have some photos of you in? Perhaps a wedding or prom dress that you don't think you'll get the chance to wear again....and now imagine having those photos taken on the steps of the Montmartre! Some of the girls on the trip to Paris well and truly rocked their frocks!

Of course you don't have to go all the way to Paris but it was definitely an amazing experience and one I would love to repeat somewhere else, perhaps Rome, perhaps Glasgow, perhaps Australia...oh how I dream. 

I am fully aware that this post is nothing to do with Midwifery and being a student....but one thing I will say, you need to have time out. Something you can dip in and out of, that doesn't add any extra pressure to your already burdened shoulders...find a nice balance. 

Passion and fear

This week I have witnessed two ventouse deliveries - this is where a suction cap is attached to the baby's head and as the woman pushes, the doctor pulls which helps the baby to be delivered. There are various reasons why a ventouse delivery might be deemed necessary - maternal exhaustion, prolonged 2nd stage (the pushing stage), fetal distress, amongst others.

Of the two ventouse births I witnessed, one was due to slow progress in the 2nd stage and the other was due to fetal distress. I can't really share too much information about the deliveries themselves due to confidentiality but in the event of the fetal distress, my heart was in my mouth and I felt very emotional when the baby was safely delivered. I'd helped to care for the couple all shift and learnt quite a lot about their journey so far, and therefore I found it mattered a lot to me, my part in their story. I was really pleased to be able to see them again the next day. 

I now have 5 deliveries to my name, three of which you already know about in my last post Not one but three. I've been lucky to work with a brilliant team and I feel like I have learnt loads in just the last week. Four out of my five deliveries were in the semi-recumbent position but the fifth (actually fourth but this could get confusing) was on all fours.....it was brilliant to get my head round exactly where I was putting my hands, and to have a different perspective - however I have got to say....it's far messier. My final delivery of the week was lovely and controlled and as a first baby, my mentor had loads of time to point things out to me as the baby progressed. 

This week I am onto day shift and I think I will experience very different shifts to the night ones - there will be far more postnatal checks that need to be done than there are in the night time but there are also generally more staff. It will be really interesting to see the difference though of course I am hoping for a couple more deliveries and moving towards becoming more autonomous. I shall be investing in a book where I can keep a record of all my own deliveries as I am sure I will want to look back on them all one day. 

One thing that has struck me this week is the value of good support. I have been told how lucky I am to be able to witness birth and I agree I am lucky. However I am also lucky to witness the amazing roller coaster of emotions during labour and the special bond between the woman and her birth partner.  I have seen the love, the fear, the hope and the excitement all in the eyes of the birth partner as well as the woman. With the couple whose baby was in fetal distress, I witnessed the pure joy on the face of the mother, that the time had arrived to meet her baby, which was contradicted by the absolute fear in her partner's face as he could see the slowing heart beat and the number of people suddenly in the room. Not for one moment did he let his wife know just how worried we all were, but he continued to support her, to encourage her and be by her side the whole time. And then once the baby was born, I continued to watch that amazing bond between them, the continued joy and amazement on her face, and the relief and joy on his. You tell me I am lucky - I wholeheartedly agree and  no matter how lucky you think I am, I know I am 20 times more lucky than that. 

3 babies

Two weeks off for Christmas and some time to indulge in my hobbies. One of the first things I did was to photograph my friends babies....something I'd been looking forward to all year. Despite there being a month between my friends due dates, the babies actually arrived 9 days apart. 

First born was Alice - born at home as planned on the 25th November. 

Then came Siena on the 30th November - who was born by Caesarean Section, not quite as originally planned as Mum had hoped for a VBAC at home. However as her amniotic fluid began to leak at 34 weeks, it was decided that the safest option was a planned Caesarean. 

And finally came Sam's baby, who arrived in hospital on the 4th December. I think the world of Facebook held it's breath awaiting the arrival. All of Sam's friends knew that Sam was in labour. We'd witnessed the snow updates, and the worries about whether or not a midwife would make it to her house for the homebirth she had planned. We then witnessed the updates about her contractions beginning and then her leaving to go to the hospital. I've talked about Sam in a previous post and how she lost her first son Malachi. Sam was desperate to have a little boy, and we were all praying for a little boy for her.  When her updates went quiet, we knew that there was a good chance that the baby had been born. Finally the update that we had all been waiting for....her family was complete and baby Bauer had been born. As it turned out, being in hospital rather than at home, had been the very best thing for them. 

Two days before Christmas I took the opportunity to photograph the three of them together and I felt so very very lucky.