Day 147

I've had four hours of sleep in the past three days. I've barely been hungry. I'm functioning fine. What gives? I know I can't push it much more, so I'm taking the night off to sleep as much as I can. I may take tomorrow morning off, as well.

As predicted, today was a full day. After managing two labors (and a wayward intern) all night long, plus learning how to help A with chart review while watching Kill Bill, I stole a two hour nap. I seriously groaned when my alarm went off, but I still managed to drag myself into the shower. Remembering that this morning was when the director and the reporters were gonna be here, I put on my best scrubs and my favorite beaded earrings. I braided my hair, and A promised me that I didn't look nearly as yuck as I felt.

The morning was chaotic, in the best possible way. I tried to visit with the director, but every few minutes I was interrupted with a "Jen, can you ___?" from the interns. I translated, double-checked palpation and/or cervical dilation and/or heart tones, performed a newborn exam, gave castor oil, charted, and ran from one thing to another. I loved it.

There were two photo journalists here from the New York Times this morning. They are doing an article about Casa and the director, but we're not sure what the focus of the article will be. It's scheduled to come out in early July.

One of the women I labored with last night was a 17 year old primip (woman having her first baby). The baby's father was not in the picture, and a bunch of other circumstances kept her family or friends from being able to come with her. The only support person she had was her uncle, which I thought was kind of creepy weird at first, but they actually had a great relationship and he totally helped her during her labor by keeping her laughing and relaxed. I was hoping she wouldn't deliver during my nap, but naturally, she did. Dang it. I really liked her and she would have been the youngest woman I'd ever attended as a midwife. Anyway, she had a great birth. Although the timing didn't work out for me, it did work so that the reporters were here when she was about to leave and they asked to take some photos of her and the baby. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they get included in the article.

One of the midwives that I'm working with for the first time here is a Mexican-American woman who is originally from El Paso. She also works as a midwife in Arkansas and Tennessee occasionally. I like her a lot. As it turns out, she has a very close relationship with the Duggar family (as in the family from the TV show 19 Kids and Counting) because the second oldest Duggar girl, Jill, is a student midwife and the two of them met at the birth of a mutual friend. Jill and the Casa midwife talk all the time. What I think is hilarious is that the Casa midwife uses a Missy Elliott ringtone so that whenever Jill Duggar calls, we all hear, "Is it worth it, let me work it..." LOL. Yeah, they totally don't go together. I love hearing her stories about what everyday life is like at the Duggar home. She even shares some of her personal family videos with them. It looks like chaotic fun to hang out with them.

Oh, I'm hoping for a quiet night.