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Reincarnation?
Daughter has just relayed to me a conversation she and Jack, aged 3, had when she was explaining to him why Scruff, their kitten, was no longer with them - Scruff isn't living with us any more because he had an accident. The other day he wanted to cross the road, but he didn't look first to see if anything was coming and he ran across the road when a van was coming really fast. The van couldn't stop quickly enough and so it banged into Scruff. Scruff died but he has gone to heaven to live with Granny. He's going to keep her company now and she is going to look after him. Yes Mummy. When I was a dog I was run over and I stayed with Granny. Then Granny said I was going to be a boy and come and live with you and Daddy and be your Jack. Scruff will be happy with Granny. Out of the mouths of babes?
Crickey. Just found this, web-site below. No wonder Americans are always confused by our antenatal care system. Seems more laid back than this. Health Tip: Prenatal Checkups
(HealthDay News) -- If you've just learned you're pregnant, don't hesitate to schedule a doctor's appointment.
Regular doctor visits during pregnancy are important to ensure that you and your baby stay healthy, according to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
At some point, you can expect to undergo:
A physical exam, including a pelvic and breast exam, checking your heart, lungs, eyes, ears, nose and throat, and measuring your height and weight.
Blood, urine and blood pressure tests, and a Pap smear to check for disease that could affect your health during pregnancy.
Checks for several harmful conditions, including anemia, bladder infections, syphilis, gonorrhea, HIV, cervical cancer, hepatitis B, vaginal infections and other problems.
Questioning about the state of your health and that of the baby's father.
-- Felicity Stone
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=81210
We never do the first bullet point. I suppose it's a general health check really, and in the US I believe they have obs/gyn for their pregnancy care whereas over here the first point of contact is generally the G.P who knows, or should know, your general health status and history. Pelvic exam?????
An experiment
So, here I sit writing this on my satnav! Jack is sleeping upstairs and we are waiting for a phone call from his Mummy to tell us what damage his Daddy did to himself when he came off his motorcycle during a race today. We are hoping that it's nothing more than a sprained wrist and nasty bruising but the amount of swelling involved makes me think that a couple of fractures might be the trophy he's won today. Casualty will be dedicating a cubicle to him at this rate since today is his second visit this week. On Tuesday he stepped backwards off the decking, lost his footing and caught his head on the wrought iron gate. The resulting gash to his scalp required sticking together with super glue.
Amy's house move is in a state of flux at present and it is really getting daughter down. The whole thing seems to be unbelievably disorganised. Everyone was gearing up to exchange of contracts on Tuesday and moving on Friday but then they heard that their buyer is still waiting for his mortgage to be approved, so now they are quite down. Daughter is starting to feel one of the effects of a twin pregnancy, super tiredness. yesterday we went 'buggy trialling' and we were really covering all possibilities when daughter just suddenly flagged in quite a dramatic way. All her energy deserted her and it was as much as she could manage just to make it back to the car.
Do midwives matter?
There I was, already to chat away about Lotus Birthing, I even had some pictures to go with my ramblings, when the media picked up on the fact that maternity care assistants are taking over the role of the midwife, it has really put any thoughts about placentae and what to do with them following birth on the back-boiler.
Speaking from my own experience, I have no knowledge of MCA's taking over my role. Obviously I would be concerned if I thought that this was really happening, but I don't believe that it is. Well, not in the sensationalist way that some media reports are waxing lyrical about. I am aware, and thankful, that some tasks are now carried out by assistants. I'm thinking here of helping Mothers breastfeed, bathing babies, assisting women in general hygiene, all things that midwives do, if they have the time, but really tasks that trained and experienced MCA's can do well. One of the articles about maternity services wrote 'Three quarters (76%) said they had seen an increase in their birthrate this year and just over half (53%) said the births had become more complex.', and there in lies the key to the problem, the workload has increased, the expectations of women have increased, but midwife numbers haven't. What would people rather, that someone who is able to do a task well carries it out and releases a midwife to care for women in labour and help them to have a healthy baby, or that a midwife tries to do everything and corners are cut resulting in nothing being done properly, and more importantly, safely?
This week The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has issued a statement about the Maternity Services, calling for the department of Health to invest in the service if it really wants to fulfill the aspirations of Maternity Matters, invest they certainly must as to date any investment there has been is invisible to staff on the coal face. I suspect though that government have come up with yet another pipe dream which they hope the goodwill of staff will turn in a reality, of sorts. That's what usually happens, a guidance, edict, command, call it what you will is issued, and more importantly publicised, and we are all supposed to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. There we are, face to face with the expectant woman who has read all these promises, and we are made to feel duty bound to come up with the goods, but with no extra resources behind us. It's all rather like my recent 'rotation' to another unit, the manager sat there and decided what orientation I needed, she didn't come to me and say 'what would be helpful?' she looked from her perspective, probably thought she was highlighting the right things, and basically wasted three weeks of my life because I was no better off at the end of it. D of H decides that change needs to happen, speaks to a few 'heads up there own backsides' professors, consumer groups, Royal Colleges, doubtless NICE also had something to say, spouted forth to the public about how amazing the service was going to become, patted itself on the back, and is now waiting to see how the phoenix will arise from the ashes.
I know I sound sceptical, jaundiced even, but that is how most midwives now feel. We had our hopes raised back in 1992 with Winterton and Changing Childbirth, and I for one was naive enough to believe that things were going to change for the better, for the women I do think that much has been adapted for the better, but there is still so far to go to improve the maternity services and I, for one, don't think I have enough energy to carry on with this piecemeal way of working.
And, whilst I'm busy griping away, I read in one of the tabloids that midwives earn £60k a year, where? A consultant midwife maybe (according to my manager, who also carries the misleading title 'consultant' she only earns slightly more than me) but as a senior midwife I earn the equivalent of half of the sum quoted in the press.
Gosh. I do feel better for getting that off my chest!
Oh balderdash
Job-share partner has sold her house. They are moving down to the West Country. She has handed her notice in. I am now stressing in a fairly major way. I know what will happen you see. The powers that be won't advertise the post until she has gone so I am likely to be trying to cover a full-time caseload on part-time hours. If I didn't have Amy two days a week I could just increase my hours and cover the work. If daughter was not having twins I wouldn't have the question mark about when I might have to be helping her out. Hopefully she will have the babies on the planned date and there will be no complications but I know that in this situation you cannot count your chickens before they are hatched, so I'm stressing.