Happy Birth Day

Thirty nine years ago today I entered the "Torture Chamber" as my sister and I called it years later, a hospital in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, because I was in labor.  The first nurse I encountered asked "Have you had any experience with enemas?" I explained to her I had experience giving them and not getting them.... and that was where it went down hill....My husband and I had taken the "mandatory" childbirth classes offered at this hospital so that he could stay with me and we wanted to have a natural childbirth.  So, after the also "mandatory" enema,  I was supposed to have the "mandatory" shave.   I told them no,  I was not going to have that.  Then I was placed into a labor room which by today's standards looked like an ICU room.  All glass windows, placed on a stretcher, looking out at the nurses station where they "watched" their laboring patients.  Many hours passed where they checked me, and when they  did, they kicked my husband out to the waiting room <after all, he had never seen that part of me before>.  They would then forget to tell him to come back in so I was left for long periods of time by myself laying on my back on my stretcher.  Nothing to eat or drink of course, not an ice chip, not a sip of water..... and after many hours in came one of the physician's wives.  How did I know this was a physician's wife?  She had a mink coat on. One of the hazards of delivering in the holiday times is the goodies that are brought in for the staff, especially when you have to watch through the window and do not get to eat.  This physician's wife brought them some homemade brownies..... and what I would have done for a taste of that brownie!!  Hours pass.... and it is time to push.   They take me to the Delivery Room <looks like an Operating Room> every one is gowned up and sterile with masks on including my husband.   They put a Saddle Block in Now and decide I am needing to deliver  quickly Now...so out come the forceps and a 4th degree episiotomy.... and out comes my daughter... Holly......"wait, I want to hold my baby!".... "No, she has to go over here to get cleaned up and then to the Nursery"....  "Come on Dad, you come with us....." "Is something wrong with her?"  "No she is fine,  Healthy and Fine!"   AND, I am alone again..... Wait!  What just happened???     Where is my baby?  When can I see her?  Tomorrow????  It is only 5:30 PM....   Can I walk to where she is???  NO.... Tomorrow.....  In that hospital at that time we were "allowed" to take exactly one photograph of our own baby for the entire three days we were in the hospital. Oh and I am in a semi-private room with no husband and no baby in the room either.

Some people ask why I do what I do, why do I want women to be given choices in their births.  I think it probably stems back to this experience in the Torture Chamber.....I had two more births after this and I got it right with my subsequent births.  So Happy Birthday Holly!   39 years was a long time ago and a lot of things are much improved now!   I will keep striving to make it better for all women.

It Takes a Village!

At times, running a unit like ours looks like we are on auto-pilot;  very little turnover, great customer satisfaction scores, pretty amazing breastfeeding rates, stuff just happens.  

It runs that way because we have a pretty amazing team. Around 17 years ago, I came on an interview and I knew at that time that this unit was something special and I wanted to be a part of it.  What makes it special are the people that are a part of it.  Of course we have Registered Nurses, Lactation Consultants, Surgical Technologists, Certified Nursing Assistants and Patient Care Liaisons/Birth Registrars, Obstetricians, Certified Nurse Midwives, Pediatricians, Neonatologists, we are a Birthing Suites after all! I have my secretary who does a really great job keeping me organized and making our special seasonal Wall of Babies every month!

We also have some pretty great people that back us up.  Volunteers doing what ever needs to be done to make it special, knitted hats, rice packs, Christmas stockings, blankets, quilts.   Housekeepers keep our unit looking terrific.  You can hear the housekeepers speaking to our patients on a daily basis.  Some of them help us translate for women who are arriving to the hospital for the first time and they are scared.  A smiling face that soothes them is there.   We have Respiratory Therapists who are there in a moment's notice to help us with deliveries.  We have wonderful Dietary people who are there to bring up a snack or the regular meal and are always there with coffee for us too!  Pharmacy Techs bring us medications, Pharmacists check medications for us.  Transport comes up and brings us MORE patients and takes them to places all over the hospital.  Plant Operations is there on a daily basis fixing the stuff we break, changing filters, painting a wall, you name it they do it.  Bio-Med making sure our equipment is safe.  Social Workers and Case Managers helping to solve issues.  Hearing Screeners & Healthy Start.  Laboratory to run our labs for us, Radiology to do our x-rays and ultrasounds when we need them, Cardiology to help with echo's.  Anesthesiology to come for epidurals when we need them...IV Therapy when we just can't seem to get the line in (and we are amazing at putting IVs in ourselves!).  A chaplain when we need to pray.  The Central Supply people who restock our supply room.  Sterile Processing to make sure we have the tools to do our job.  Financial Services there to make sure we pay our bills and get paid every two weeks.

Tonight it was Security who made me feel thankful.  They over heard a family who was distraught and wanted to speak to the person in charge.  So, in a flash they were there to support me and make sure I was safe.  I was, but I felt a whole lot better knowing they were there.  A little over a year ago, we started having Security on our unit to keep us safe and they have become a real important part of our day!  

So thank you.  Thank you to all of you that make our unit look like a well-oiled machine.  Thank you for our village who makes caring for women and neonates look easy.  You are all a blessing in my life.

Taking on a New Department, Taking Care of Self....

Sometimes at work, you are asked to take on new responsibilities or new duties.  This time for me it was a new department.  Well, not that new, I had this department many years ago, but new to me again.  

About six months ago, I was asked to take on this department and the start time was going to be October 1st.  I have had the pleasure over the years of starting departments/units from the ground up.  Heck, I have even had the experience of starting by finding land and building a building!    But, this time it was going to be different, it was taking over a department that was already functioning.  Over the next few months preliminary plans were developed and I was able to interview my new team and hire them/transfer them into their "new" "old" positions.

Oh, and when we started on October 1st we were over census for the amount of staff that were budgeted for the unit....so hence, we did not have enough staff to care for the patients.  There were lots of things the department had in place that were not in place in our hospital.  The team did not "know" me and I did not "know" them.  It was stressful for them and for me too.  

Stress can be good, termed eustress.   Positive stress or eustress (also called good stress) is when you perceive a stressful situation as an opportunity that will lead to a good outcome. 

Stress can also be bad called distress.  Negative stress or distress is when  you perceive a stressful situation as suffering.  The goal is to move your distress to eustress.

So, what do you do to take care of yourself while you are going through stressful situations?    What did I do?  Listened.  Tried to problem solve with the group.  Make one small positive move at a time.  One small win at a time.  Try not to do it all at one time, because guess what, you can't.  Stay positive for yourself, stay positive for your team.  Have a good friend to problem solve separate from the situation.  Learn to smile, learn to laugh at what you can.      Using humor helps!  I also find that eating good food (staying away from junk), exercising (even if it is going out for a walk around the hospital) helps!  Meditation helps me to regroup and to let go.  I do that during the day and in the evening to unwind.  I use an app called CALM to do guided meditations.

https://www.calm.com

We are now in the third month into the change and know what?  We got through a lot of challenges and things are going pretty smoothly now!  People  on the team pulled together and made it work.  We got to know each other.  We are a work in progress!  

I laugh because just as the new department is running some what smoothly,  I am getting ready to take over some job duties of a good friend at work who is retiring in January!  Here we go again!!!                                B-R-E-A-T-H-E!  JUST BREATHE!!  And don't forget to smile!