The time I delivered a baby…

Early last year, my beautiful oldest sister told me she was going to have a baby. Actually, she shoved a pee stick in front of my face that proudly displayed two little lines. I was pretty excited. I love love LOVE babies a (hence me becoming a midwife) and love love LOVE being an aunty. Zoey asked me if, when the time came, I would want to be a support person for her during labour and if I would be this baby’s godmother. I answered both questions with a resounding YES!

And then.

A few weeks later Zoey & Pete came to our place for the weekend. Sunday morning Zoey came to my room with tears in her eyes and simply said ‘I’m bleeding. Pretty badly'.’ My heart sank. I told her that she needed to go to the hospital and she did just that as the rest of us headed off to church. I just happened to be leading worship that Sunday which is no doubt one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Lead people into a place of worship when all the while worried sick about my sister and my future nephew/niece. One of the songs I’d chosen to do that morning contained the following words: In all things, we know that we are more than conquerors, you keep us by your love. I sang those words and burst into tears right there on the stage, in front of my entire church family who had no idea what was going on. I stood there emotional and vulnerable for the rest of the worship already grieving to God for what I just knew was happening at that hospital. During the service Zoey text from the hospital. I’ve lost the baby. My entire family were messes. We’re super close and everyone felt the loss.

And then.

Several months later Zoey showed me about five pee sticks all proudly displaying those two lovely lines. I remember going with Zoey to her first trimester ultrasound and how she scared she was that the baby wouldn’t be okay. But as soon as we saw that heartbeat we just knew that everything was going to be okay. Her pregnancy seemed to fly by and before I knew it she was 8 months pregnant and we were making labour plans. She was due early May and the plan was that I would take time off work and stay with her the week she was due to make sure I was there when she went into labour.

On the 19th April my mother woke me up pretty early by bursting into my bedroom and exclaiming ‘You need to get up. Zoey thinks she might be in labour!’. Now I was pretty tired that morning due to the fact that I’d only gotten home sometime in the wee hours of the morning after spending the evening in Brisbane at a One Direction totally non-embarrassing concert. But I sat bolt upright, rubbed my eyes and asked mum for all the details she knew. Could it really be happening I wondered, it is three weeks before he’s due! Mum stated that Zoey’d had a ‘show’ and was feeling some contractions but was going to wait and see if they became a bit more regular before she established whether or not she was, in fact, in labour. I got up, had a shower and leisurely started packing my bag awaiting Zoey to call for me to start the drive (I live about an hour and a half away from Zoey & Pete). Just after 8.30am I decided to give her a quick call to see how she was going. She told me that she was doing okay. Contractions were starting to become more regular but she would call me when she thought I should come. Thinking I had a bit more time I decided I could relax for a bit and so abandoned packing in favour of a bit of TV. Literally 10 minutes later Zoey called. I think you should come now. I quickly threw together the rest of my packing and jumped in my car.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t speed. It is an actual miracle that I got there 1. Safe and 2. Free of speeding fines. When I was about 30 minutes out of Maryborough Zoey rang and said that contractions were getting very strong and close together and she was heading to the hospital in Hervey Bay (about 30 mins from Maryborough) because any longer and she didn’t think she’d be able to handle the car ride. I told her I’d meet her there and putting my foot down just a little bit more… Hello 15km over the limit…

I arrived at the hospital about 15 minutes after Zoey did, around 11am, and labour was definitely in full swing. I have to say that she was an absolute trooper. Nothing like the stories my mum (who’d supported Zoey during Mayana’s delivery) had told me about Zoey’s first labour! Clearly she was much better behaved second time round! Not once did she ask for pain relief and she barely made any noise, right up until the end anyway. She moved between leaning over the bed and hoping into the shower where she requested the water be so hot that her back had great red welts all over it. She really only stayed on the bed for dilation checks and the actual pushing business.

I kept myself busy by shovelling handfuls of ice chips into Zoey’s mouth whenever she requested and by letting her crush the crap out of my hands (Pete’s hands were busy massaging her back) as she contracted away.The first time Zoey was checked for dilation, which I think was about 20 minutes after I got there, she was 7 centimetres dilated! And by the second check baby’s head had descended enough that she was ready to have her waters broken. And then things really got moving.

When Zoey started feeling the pushing urge I asked her if it’d be okay for me to let go of her hand and go stand down near the ‘business end’ to watch the show. The midwife, whose name was Heather, casually mentioned that if Zoey was okay with it I could deliver the baby (we’d previously told her that I was studying nursing and planning to be a midwife)! I think I mumbled something stupid like Uhhh ummm really? Can I? Zoey, mid contraction, just nodded and said of course I could. Heather asked if I had delivered any babies before to which I replied No… Is that okay? Heather assured me it was fine because she’d tell me what to do! I remember scrambling to put gloves on my shaking hands and taking my place and the end of the bed. During pushing Zoey was, understandably, quite vocal but I was pretty much focussing 100% on the fact that in mere moments I’d be not only meeting my nephew… but delivering him.

His head started to crown and before I could blink his little head was out. I kept thinking over and over Surely that is not all of his head… It’s so tiny… There has to be more to his head than that! But his whole head it was and I reached out and touched it. Heather grabbed my hands and used them to feel around his neck for the umbilical cord. It was wrapped around his neck once and she just grabbed my finger, and using it, pried the cord from around his neck. With the next contraction I remember Heather, with her hands covering mine, making me pull at his neck (or as she called it, guiding) enough to make me worried I was going to hurt him. As soon as he started to slide on out Heather let go of my hands leaving me free to catch him and lift him up high and place him on Zoey’s chest. Zoey asked if he was a boy and Pete and I both assured her that he most definitely was!

And so at 1pm on the 19th April 2012 – Reuben John Alexander Friend was born. Weighing in at just 5lbs, 11oz and measuring a tiny 43cm. My darling little boy. My sweetest little godson. I didn’t actually know that one of his middle names was going to be named after me until Pete announced his name for all to hear. I was completely and utterly touched. And I felt like crying… but can you blame me really!?

We spent the hour of skin-to-skin time just staring at him and recounting the labour. My parents arrived a short time after and met their grandson. Somewhere in the next few hours – Reuben had his connection to the mother ship severed, Zoey got her small tear stitched up, Mayana met her baby brother and I finally ate some food & announced the safe arrival of my nephew via twitter and facebook (and got a crazy 43 likes & 14 comments – the most action my FB page has ever had I’m sure!) :

He is so super gorgeous and the time between visits feels like forever! He’s only seven weeks old and I feel like I've already missed so much of his life.

The whole experience was completely surreal and for the most part it felt like I was watching myself deliver him, as opposed to actually doing it! If I had any doubts whatsoever that I had chosen the right career path.. I certainly have none now.

I literally cannot wait until delivering babies is my everyday job.

The one with all the poop.

Tonight is one of those nights were I simply hate poop. One of my residents decided it would be fun to poop her pants not once, not twice but three times within the space of two hours. And two of those times she took it upon herself to remove her pad and place it on the bathroom bench meaning that when I went in to check on her (she was supposed to be asleep in bed) the whole joint smelt like crap. Fun times. I told her that she needed to leave her pad on and let me know when she felt that she needed to go to the toilet! But suffering from short term memory loss (apparently) she did not keep her pad on and she definitely did not let me know when she needed to go.

Now I know that when I’m a midwife I’ll have to deal with poop. Babies poop all the time and sometimes mum’s in labour do too. But adult poo is a whole lot different to baby poo. And a mum poo-ing once while pushing out a baby is a whole lot different to poo smeared in pants. At least it was only one of my residents that was on the poo wagon. My night would have been even more crazy if they’d all jumped on board.

Dementia patients + poop = the actual worst. Because good old dementia patients sometimes forget important things like ‘you’re not supposed to use your hand to wipe your poop. That’s what toilet paper is for!’. One of my patients has the tendency to reach below while she’s on the toilet and touch that which should never be touched. So when it comes to toileting time I often have to become a strict and bossy - demanding that her hands remain where I can see them at all times. But she sure is quick for an old thing (when it comes to poop anyway) and I have caught her with her hand in the toilet bowl in the time it took me to turn around & grab the bottom wipes. Once. Or maybe twice. And let me tell you.. removing poop from under fingernails is no small task.

Don’t even get me started on poop that ends up on the floor.

I sincerely hope that when I get old, bowel control and the ability to toilet myself will be skills that I retain. But. If I'm not lucky enough to have that.. I at least hope that I won’t develop the urge to want to touch anything that belongs in the toilet bowl!

The time I got a job…

I ran out of money. Literally. I had $35 left in my bank account and two bills due the following week. Nothing else to do but get a job. I decided that working in the nursing industry would be best for a budding nurse like myself so I applied for AIN/PC jobs at all the local nursing homes. Well. One of them just happened to give me an interview and within a few days I started work as a Personal Carer (and paid my bills!).

It’s pretty bizarre working in aged care because it is the complete opposite of what I want to do: deliver babies. It’s tiring, physically demanding and full on sometimes. But it’s still nursing and it’s all experience.

The residents are absolutely the best part of my job. Boy oh boy are some of them hilarious (most without even trying to be!). So get yourselves prepared for stories. Because I’ll most definitely be posting stories. Some will involve the cute things they say. Some will detail all the awkwardness that comes with showering, changing clothes and nudity. And just warning you right now - there will definitely be some poo and wee stories! I hope though that they provide you with laughs and a bit of an insight into what lays ahead for us all… old age.

The time I changed uni’s…

It had to happen. As much as I adored being a QUT student and all the prestige that came with being a member of the elitist midwifery cohort, I really had no other option than to transfer. The desire initially sprung from detesting the travel required & the copious hours spent on public transport (which in QLD really really sucks). Then I got super involved in my church’s youth group (which made me want to be home more and available to work a day each week in the church office). Then I got really poor (because all the travel plus the uni work made it impossible to have a job). And then, registration for health professionals went national. How did this influence my decision you ask? Well.

Let me just quickly say that national registration is a really really good thing! But it meant that registration requirements for midwives underwent a whole heap of changes. Because of all theses changes, QUT wasn’t quite sure if the course we midwifery students were completing would leave us able to be registered at the completion of the degree. They told us that it would take at least 12-18 months for them to sort out the degree so that it would meet registration requirements and that we’d have to wait to see if we’d graduate eligible or if they’d have to extend our course another year or more. It was at this point that I decided to transfer into plain old nursing as opposed to the dual degree. See - I’ll finish my nursing, then do a postgraduate degree in midwifery (and then my masters – clearly I’m a sucker for study) once the course is officially aligned with rego requirements. Then I decided, heck if I’m changing degrees why not change to a university closer to home? I settled on Central Queensland University’s distance nursing program and am just about finished my first semester there. The change has enabled me to get a job and work at the church whilst continuing on toward my goal of becoming a midwife. Win, win right? Almost.

Being an external student is hard. And I find I really have to apply myself so much more than I did as an internal student. I’m getting really good grades so far but I could definitely procrastinate a little less, and study a little more. Which I totally plan on doing next semester!

Some things you need to know…

So far, this year, this future midwife:
1. Changed university's.
2. Got a job.
3. Delivered her first baby. Who also happened to be her nephew. Which means she:
4. Became an aunty again!
5. Turned twenty.
And…
6. Almost Finished her first semester of second year nursing!
Now I know that all of these things require so much more detail and believe me the details are coming. I just wanted to do a drop by and let you know that I’m back. Back on the blogging train. I’ll be posting uni things, nursing things, work things, life things, family things and all sorts of other things that I’m sure will entertain you.. well at least I hope so!
Keep an eye out…

Peek at my Week: I’m on holidays baby…

My lovely sister over at Live. Love. Create. Imagine. has started up a new blog meme called ‘Peek at My Week’. Basically, since she and I are both avid instagram users, she has decided that it would be awesome to make a collage of our weekly instagram photos and post them on our blogs. She is encouraging everyone and anyone to join in so head on over to her blog and join up!

But here’s a peek at my week:

If you want to follow me on instagram my username is: alexieb

Hope you’re having a lovely week and Happy New Year!

Alexie xx

Shameless plug..

If you're a worship leader, a christian, or you just appreciate a good bit of godly blogging you should go and check out my very talented father's new blog 'Confessions of a Worship Leader'. He's a very gifted and anointed worship leader and always has inspiring and thought provoking things to say so you should all go read what he has to say and then follow him!

Hope you're all having a lovely week.

Lexi xo

Point & Shoot - And they call the thing rodeo

I love the rodeo. There’s something about it.. the bulls, the horses, the manly riders..I honestly love it all. There’s even a part of me that daydreams about being a nurse on the rodeo circuit someday!

The love affair began last year when I attended the Kenilworth Rodeo. It’s just a small town rodeo but a lot of circuit riders compete making it an all day event. I’m pretty sure I sat in the same spot on the grandstand for most of the day just watching, trying to understand the rules of every event. And by the end of the day I was hooked.

I convinced my parents to take me to the Warwick Rodeo later in the year. Warwick Rodeo is known as ‘Australia’s Most Famous’ and it basically goes for a whole week, starting Monday and ending Sunday night. Last year we just went for the day on Saturday and a new tradition was formed. This year we arrived at about 11am and didn’t leave til 11pm. Man oh man was the day action packed. 7 ambulances (nothing too serious before you ask just some broken bones), countless riders and all the events that I love.

We stayed in Killarney (about 1/2 hour away from Warwick) Saturday night so it made sense that we did a little exploring in the morning. We started our exploration at Queen Mary Falls, literally right down the road from where we stayed. It was beautiful! From there we went to Killarney town and, being the huge McLeod’s Daughters lover that I am, posed for a photo in front of the town sign. After walking the main street we headed off for New South Wales. That’s right, it was just a 5km drive to the state border! We took the obligatory ‘straddling the state line’ pictures before the long drive home (long only because we travelled via Toowoomba!).

I can’t wait to do it again next year!

p.s. If you want to play along… head on over to Sunny & Scout and join in!

Point & Shoot – new camera, new baby & surprise visitors!

What an eventful weekend!

Friday - I was on the train to Uni bright and early Friday morning when my lovely youth pastor and friend, Michelle, called me to announce that she had given birth to her newest daughter in the wee hours of the morning. Little Macey Clare was born at 12.40am weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces and measuring 51cm. I stopped in on my way home from Uni for an introduction and a cuddle!

     

(from left to right) First cuddles.                     Macey Clare.                        Mother and daughter.

Saturday - I purchased a camera of my own. I generally use my iPhone camera which, lets face it isn’t the best quality in the world, but with a Perth holiday coming up very very soon (which is sooooo exciting by the way!) I decided that I needed my own compact to capture holiday memories.

Sunday – Church and an afternoon of visits from friends and a surprise visit from the ‘Friends’. I always love when my sisters come home even if just for a few hours and we were blessed with a visit from Zoey, Pete & Mayana.

    

(From top right to bottom left) One of my friends from church, Amelia, and I / The boys – Jordan, Pete & Papa / Zoey and Mayana having cuddles / Mayana and her Opa.

Hope your weekend was as lovely as mine was. If you want to play along.. head to the Sunny + Scout to join in the fun!

I’ll leave you with my favourite picture from the weekend…

My gorgeous niece and I!

The photo wall.

I figure this is one of those things in my life that deserves a post. The wall of my bedroom.

 

It started with six framed photos of the beach. I was going through a beach phase and was determined to decorate my room beach style. Obviously I got over that obsession and at some point I changed the beach pictures to photos. From there the wall just grew. It’s kinda out of control now – it covers one wall completely and has spread to the opposite wall as well now. Some photos are framed, some just blue-tacked, there’s a couple canvases and one giant poster board of the Dixie Chicks (which is my pride and joy by the way). I think it’s probably reached it’s limit (size wise) but I constantly replace photos or move things around. I literally can’t imagine my wall without it and I dread the day that I move out and have to take it all down and start again somewhere new.

Easter Holidays

A few pictures of my lovely Easter holiday…

 

1. A few of us in line for Easterfest!               2. Church in the Big Top - Friday morning.

3. Stalking the Former Love Pirates.              4. Rapture Ruckus from the front row!

5. The Art of Sleeping from the mosh pit!       6. Mayana’s Easter present from ‘La La’.

7. My family.                                                8. My favourite little person in the world.

*Note my new hair!

10 things I love right now.

In no particular order.

1. The fact that I only have two assessments left until Easter break. A whole week of nothing coming this way baby.

2. The High Distinction I got for my first ever university assignment.

3. My favourite TV shows: Grey’s Anatomy (especially season 2 which I am currently re-watching), GLEE and Army Wives.

4. The joy in knowing that Easterfest is only four days away.

5. My new haircut. I’ll post a picture sometime soon for your viewing pleasure.

6. Juice. I can’t get enough of the stuff. Especially apple juice. Or orange juice. Or apple mango juice. Who am I kidding? Any kind of juice really.

7.  My iPhone. Hands down the best thing I currently own.

8. My midwifery class at uni.

9. ‘Who Are We Fooling’ by Brooke Fraser. If you haven’t listened to it do yourself a favour.

10. That Perth is less than 8 months away!

Point & Shoot

I figured, since my lovely cousin Louise from Sunny+Scout  is now the host of Point & Shoot, it’s about time I played along.

We spent the weekend celebrating my oldest sister's birthday. The original plan was to go to Woodgate and spend the day at the beach in the sun. But good ol’ mother nature had other plans and as it was raining quite heavily when we got there we decided to pop on over to Bundaberg and visit the Bundaberg Rum Distillery. Unfortunately we got there about half an hour too late to take the tour but one lovely staff member let us partake in the tasting section of the tour for free!

My sisters and I had a taste of an oh so lovely chocolate rum liquor. And then my oh so lovely father bought a bottle for us to share.

Oh and I didn’t do a single bit of uni work the entire weekend!

Getting my study on…

Well technically I’m listening to a lecture while blogging but whatever.

Bioscience.

Will be the death of me. I kid you not. I realise my brain is still growing and this is the opportune moment to fill it with knowledge but I don’t think I can fit all this biological knowledge into my brain. If you only knew how much they teach in one lecture (and how fast they go) you would feel super sorry for me.

My other classes are going great! I love Intro to Midwifery Practices. Even though it’s all theory and ethical frameworks it at least is about my chosen field.

More later, the lecturer just called an end to our very very short break : )

First Day.

Right now I am sitting in the air conditioned comfort of my university’s library. My lecture finished early and I have a plethora of time until my train home so I thought ‘what better to do in this time than to update my 19 lovely followers on my first official day’. So here I am. Updating.

I caught the train at the oh so reasonable hour of 10.00am. Had my first mini freak out when I realised there was no parking left at the train station and I had 10 minutes until my train left. I circled around, praying up a storm, until FINALLY I got a park.Thank you Jesus. With about 3 minutes to spare I raced up the stairs, onto the platform and into the train. Train journey – uneventful, except for a Spanish tourist who serenaded the entire train… for the entire journey.

So my first lecture. Not at all what I expected. The Lecturer was not boring, she didn't stand behind her desk and read off her notes and she most certainly did not make me yawn. Far from it. She was funny, entertaining and kept doing this frustrated-point-at-the-computer-and-yelp dance whenever the ‘next’ button on the remote failed to make the next slide appear.

It was mostly an introduction to the unit coupled with housekeeping type rules and an overview of assessments (no exams!).

The only thing I really learnt today is these two little piece of information:

1. You know when you have a gastro type virus and people suggest that you drink flat lemonade because it’ll give you energy? Well apparently that is not at all the thing to do. Here’s the thing - lemonade is full of glucose and sugar all of which, sits in your empty stomach. Your body recognises that there is a mass amount of glucose in the stomach to digest and sends every last piece of fluid (that you haven’t already gotten rid of) to the stomach in order to enable digestion thus sucking your body dry of whatever fluid it did have left, making you more dehydrated and lethargic. Not to mention the fact that your stomach is now full of more sugary goodness to… squirt get rid of. Not at all the desired result.

2. Any drink with caffeine or glucose in it does not count towards your recommended 2 litres of fluid intake per day.  Having, say, five cups of coffee and a few juices during the day does not suffice. When they say drink 2 litres of fluid… they really do mean water.

So yeah, put that in your pipe and smoke it, or whatever it is that they say!

Week in Pictures.

O Week. Lunches out. New boots. Farm time. Coffee with my mummy. Lovely teapots.

O Week

So today my friend Tayla and I ventured down to Uni for the beginning of O Week. We arrived just after 10.30am and headed straight over to the Student Centre to get my ID photo taken. Boy am I glad I’m a student again. I’ve missed all those lovely student discounts the past year! Hello cheap movie tickets, bus fares and train rides, it’s so nice to see you again.

A quick visit to the bookshop and library and we were armed with free t-shirts and the Uni’s guide to referencing and deciphering assignments. How nice of them.

We then ventured off the the Gardens Point campus which is only a 10 minute free shuttle bus drive away from the main campus of the uni. Gardens Point backs onto the Brisbane Botanical Gardens and is situated right next door to Parliament House. The entrance and first few buildings were part of the original University and are so lovely and old. I only have one class over at Gardens Point (a bioscience practical lab eeek!) but I can already tell it’s going to be one of my favourite places.

I attended my first lecture. Granted it was on overseas study/exchange programs and nothing of earth shattering importance but still, it made it seem real. I tried my best to learn my way around but the lay-out is confusing to say the least so I think it may take me a while. I bought my first drink from the Kitchen. I found the Uni Lolly Shop. I scored a bunch of freebies from the Student Guild. I bought a duffel bag and a travel mug because I’m cool like that.

It’s just beginning to daunt on me I think. As of next week I’m a full time Nursing/Midwifery student who is going to be in Brisbane four days a week. I’m a little scared and nervous but super excited at the same time.

But I think I’m going to like it.

Well that was fast!

Look what was waiting on my doorstep for me when I got home! And this is why you choose the 'courier' option when it's free! This is technically only 2 of my textbooks but in reality its three books and one interactive CD. That's one class booklist down and three to go.

preparation & ponderings

Uni books are expensive. Seriously. Today, in preparation for the ever approaching Uni start date, I spent the greater part of my morning searching out the best places to buy my prescribed textbooks. I'll interject here and say Uni bookshops are a rip off. I've bought 4 (2 of them being second hand) so far and spent just over $350.00. My poor bank account. But I've managed to save just over $70 and I'll be able to sell the two I had to buy brand new for a reasonable price later on. I know the money spending is necessary it's just a little hard to part with the money that has taken me so long to save.

I've been registering for classes and reading course outlines and have maybe begun to freak myself out a lot just a teeny tiny bit. My classes look hard. And while I know I'm only going to be a nurse and not a doctor or anything I still feel like I don't know a whole lot (thanks to a not so great senior biology experience) and I'm going to struggle for the first few weeks. Plus my class lists are huge and my competitive side is starting to worry that it's going to be a lot harder to be at the top of the class.

I have many, many assignments coming up in the near future so I'm taking this opportunity to enjoy my last bit of free time to indulge in some Grey's Anatomy. My lovely cousin/best friend, Emily, came to visit all the way from WA for the past three and a half weeks or so, and (among various and numerous tourist activities) managed to get me 100% obsessed with the show! I figure it's at least medically based so obviously not a complete waste of time. I may just be learning something by watching it.

Still on my to-do list before Uni commences:
- Buy the rest of my textbooks
- Stationary shopping (which I LOVE doing by the way)
- Sort out accommodation for a few nights a week during the semester
- Finish Grey's Anatomy seasons 3 & 4 so I'm not distracted one iota when I start studying!