There have been a couple more births with gorgeous babies and empowering birth stories.
There were two elective “caesars,” remembering that all caesarean sections are called “elective,” unless they occur during active labor.
One was a repeat c/section due to maternal preference, after a long first labor and birth, and a missed breech presentation until she was completely dilated. She said she was too scared to go through that again.
The other section was done because of IUGR in identical twin boys with a discrepancy of weight between the two of one pound. They were small, at 35+2 with weights of 3#13oz. and 4#14oz. In New Zealand, the “Lead Maternity Carer,” (me in this case) for both patients means that if I go the hospital and be there in a supportive capacity, our primary birth unit gets funded for me being in attendance during the surgery. The role is obviously supportive in nature—but the opportunity to be a familiar face, take photos can be really important for the families, and a pleasure for the midwife.
In the twin c/section the two physicians were from America. I was there with one of my American students. The joke was that that the babies would come out with an American accent since we were almost evenly divided. During the surgery, after the boys were out, a lightening strike caused a power outage in the whole hospital and all sorts of alarms went off. The essential equipment kept running, but the surgical suite or “theatre” was much darker. Both fellas spent some time in the NICU, one for CPAP and now both are feeders and growers.
I had the opportunity to meet the neonatalogist caring for these babies, and very different from the USA he reached out his hand and said: "my name is Sam X."
That is the way it is done in New Zealand. The doctors and rest of the team are addressed on a first name basis. While there is a hierarchy in role expertise, there is not a hierarchy in relationships with medical colleagues and staff. [Truly amazing—pop out my eyeballs, give me CPR amazing]
At Tuatapere, the Family Practice Physician—called a GP here, finally told me that I could stop calling him Dr. Jones, since everyone else called him by his first name. I mentioned that I LIKED calling him Dr. Jones, because it reminded me of the kid yelling: “Dr. Jones! Dr. Jones!” in the Indiana Jones movies. He gave me a funny look, as if he was trying to humor the crazy American…but I did try to remember to call him David. Alas, he moved on to greener pastures here in NZ, but the attitude in this country is that more education does not make you a better person.
Clearly one of the top five reasons for being in this country! No room for arrogance in NZ, in fact there is something about being the tall poppy in the field, if you try to make yourself stand out from all the rest--you risk being lopped off first.
With three more births this past week--it has been very busy...and we still have two past due and three more due before this burst of babies slows down.
