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A little cloud
Yes thats what it looks like, a little cloud. 'It' is my next Grandchild who is, at this time, nestled safely in its hideaway, not due to appear until the very end of August. It has been an anxious wait to find out that 'peanut' made it through the earlier upsets but we are now all breathing easier and full of that special bubbly feeling that knowing a new little person will be coming gives you (unless you are the vessel, in which case its more of that sea-sick, washed-out feeling).Jack made his feelings about 'peanut' clear when the ultrasonographer told him to 'push this big button and you can have a picture of baby', and he pushed the other one and deleted the image. Whoops. Some careful handling needed here.
Telephone Lottery
Hi, could I have an appointment to see a Doctor?
When?
Today.
Sorry, only emergency appointments left. Is this an emergency?
No. I just need to see a Doctor today.
Who is your Doctor?
It's Doctor F.
All the pre-allocated appointments for this morning are taken. If you phone after 2pm there are a few left for this afternoon.
Well look, I don't need to see my G.P, I need advise, any Doctor will do.
Sorry, only emergency appointments. Try phoning after 2pm.
Bit of a phone lottery really, isn't it?
Phone later, you might be lucky.
This is why I want to see the Doc, not so much for me, as to any infection I may be spreading to babies www.homehealth-uk.com/ medical/sorethroat.htm
Money, money, money
What is all this with DVLA selling my details to people? I thought that there was a little thing called the Data Protection Act which, as it name implies, is supposed to protect us against this sort of thing. Does it not apply to state bodies? The whole thing wouldn't be quite so bad if we had a choice about whether we 'subscribed' to DVLA, but if you are a motorist, and want to stay within the law, we don't.
Come on., lets rise up against this Big Brother selling our details to the highest bidders. Havn't worked out how, yet, but if you read about a middle-aged woman chaining herself to her car which is blocking DVLA's entrance, that will be me. Actually that's quite a good analogous demonstration, I am chained to my car, and DVLA, because I have to use a car for my job, therefore I am at their mercy.
SIL has been back in hospital, still awaiting action. They are reluctant to do anything relatively pro-active in case they perforate his bowel, so unless he consents to a resection and a colostomy bag (for approx 8 weeks) it is conservative treatment i.e drugs. Daughter went for Nuchal scan at Fetal Medicine, was there for 3 hours as worried about fetal growth, discrepancies with previous scans mean that it appears to not be growing fast enough. Research says that stress affects fetal development, I think that over the last 4 weeks she has had enough stress to more than explain baby's reluctance to pile on the mm's. As a result of Daddy being in hospital and Mummy having to clock up the hours in an effort to pay the mortgage Jack has been staying with us, and he has been a star. He shows no evidence of the upheavals in his little life, to the extent that he is virtually potty trained during the day. Mind you the reward system that has been devised, chocolate buttons, mean that he is filling out (unlike his in utero sibling) and that if you give him a chocolate button, just because you feel like it, he promptly goes and sits on his potty, Pavlov would be proud.
Amy and her Mummy and Daddy have just returned from a week in Spain with the in-laws, and it wasn't a huge success. The texts I received from daughter included such classic lines as:- 'I'm so bored I'm eating my fingers', 'Amy and I are going to swim home, how long will it take?' Amy is now crawling and pulling herself up, the vandal is mobile, scary stuff.
Son decided to let me in on his near death experience on the M25, he's in the outside lane, lorry on the inside lane decides to pull out, hitting the car in the middle lane, which then made contact with the car my baby was driving. Surprise, surprise, the lorry didn't stop, luckily several witnesses had his registration. When he appears on a charge of dangerous driving he can look forward to a beating around the nether regions from an over-protective Mother. Son and DIL are moving house, if all goes well. They will still be local so I have given my blessing. Only joking - not.
Due to my 'missing' two breech babies I have become over-cautious, if that is possible. Anyway, I referred E in last week for Consultant opinion as I was unsure about her baby's position. The consultant laid his hands on her burgeoning belly and announced that there was no problem. Thirty-six hours later he was performing an emergency section for 'undiagnosed' breech. E had gone into labour, stayed at home for several hours, gone in, was examined, 6cms dilated, a couple of hours later started pushing, and when examined a baby's bottom was felt. My confidence has lifted, slightly.
The gas man came, again, today. After much deliberation he said that as the chemical hadn't worked they would have to replace the pipework. 'What chemical', I asked cautiously (he had just given me a most patronising explanation regarding blocked pipes, which including analogies to human circulation, which he felt he had to explain to me in toddler speak). 'What. no chemical? That should have been done first'. He was rather startled when I began banging my head against the wall, but it soon became apparent to him that this was due to the freezing of portions of my brain during the time, 3 months, that we have had no heating in half the house. The chemical is now in, and we wait, for another 3 weeks.
I attended two more mandatory study days, and went to my manager pointing out that accumulated time owing, time in lieu and remaining annual leave, mean that I only have to work two days between now and April, she uttered the most precious words - ever ' Can we pay you for them?' Yes, yes, result, but I've still got next week off.
Letter from the management
As you may be aware there is an acute staffing crisis within the maternity unit, which is likely to continue for the next 3-4 months.
The management have had to make the difficult decision to ask all the community midwives to give one clinical shift a fortnight to the unit. It should be a non-clinic day to minimise the impact on caseloads.
On calls will remain as they are to provide community based care primarily and for emergencies as they arise.
This is no 'acute staffing crisis'. Acute means - of sudden onset. This is not sudden, we have all known for months now that 9 midwives are going off on maternity leave, that equals 45 shifts per week. Nothing was done until now. No temporary contracts were advertised, no incentives were offered to staff to increase their hours, all that has happened is this letter. As usual those 'knights in shining armour', the community midwives are to race to the rescue and save the day. Problem though, 14 community midwives, at a shift a fortnight, equals 7 shifts a week, even to my non-mathematical eye there seems to be a major discrepancy amounting to 38 shifts a week. Oh, but did you notice the 'on-call' paragraph, I know what the 'emergencies' will be, and they will be no more an emergency than the acute staffing crisis, and guess who will be called in? As for the caseloads, a day a fortnight lost might not seem like a lot, but when it is usual to work extra every day, and take all the paperwork home to do as you can't fit it in during work hours, one day a week will only not 'impact' on the caseloads if midwives 'donate' yet more of their own time, so 'give' is an accurate description of what will be happening.
This is going to have a major impact on the whole of the maternity services in this area. I expect multiple complaints from patients, super-stressed staff, lots of early retirements, and mass sick-leave/resignations due to stress. That should make things better.
Congratulations management, trust board, and government financing.
Addendum to previous entry
And now I'm really gutted. My student, who I thought I had nurtured for the last 4 months, has given up her midwifery training. C had been doing so well, and would have made a lovely midwife, but something, and I'm not sure what, has made her leave the course. Was it the fact that the students are given their off-duty one week in advance, and she had childcare to organise, was it the fact that we are so short-staffed that she was poorly supported, or was it that she looked around, saw what lay in store for her, and decided that nothing was worth it? All I know is that when I did her final assessment for her community placement she was anticipating, eagerly, her time on labour ward, we said 'goodbye' and looked forward to working with each other again. What a waste.