Today was a quiet day. It's not my imagination; there really are fewer clients and thus, fewer citas and births than in recent years. Hopefully a new advertising campaign and price reduction will help bring in more women.
I set my alarm for 7 this morning, but then found I couldn't easily get out of bed, so I dozed for a few more hours. I missed the beginning of the clinic day, but it's ok with everyone. While I was preparing breakfast, the midwife came to let me know that she had just been called to a home birth (some midwives here also have private home birth practices), one staff midwife hadn't answered her phone, and none of the other staff midwives could come in to cover. She said if she couldn't find anybody to cover, I would be it. I will admit I had a small, silent freakout session at that moment, but I told her I'd be happy to help however I could. Be in charge of the whole clinic!? ME!?
Fortunately, as I was stressing myself out about all the possible things that could go wrong, one of the staff midwives called back and said she'd be right in. Phew. Crisis averted. Being an independent licensed midwife is one thing. Being responsible for an entire clinic full of interns and clients is a whole new level for me. I do know I would have been just fine, but I'm glad I didn't have to go there today.
During my quiet moments of chart review this afternoon, I started thinking about how I have to say goodbye to A in a couple weeks. I have decided it will actually be too painful to do, so I think I'm gonna write her a letter. That way, I can tell her all the sappy stuff I want to say to her about how special she has been to me, but I don't have to do it while sobbing. I don't know. It might work. I'll start on the letter tomorrow.
For the past few weeks, one of the midwives has been asking me for help with her math homework. She recently went back to school, and she will earn her AA in psychology next month. I'm so happy for her because this has been such a big deal. The math in particular has been challenging, so I'm glad I have been able to help even a little bit. We've been working on graphing functions and dealing with slope-intercept problems all week. Tonight, we got stumped on a problem and I called Louis for help. What a guy :) He walked us through it, she finished the problem and submitted her final exam online. To celebrate, she's gonna cook johnnycakes for me tomorrow night, yay!
As soon as I decided to head to bed tonight, a woman in labor arrived at the door. She's 5 cm now, so she'll be staying. I decided to lie down for a short nap before things get hot and heavy, so that way I won't be totally exhausted. I let the intern who is on tonight know that she can come get me whenever she needs anything. If I can get in a couple hours of sleep first, though, I'll be good. Ugh, sleeping in scrubs, yuck.
3 comments:
Is Casa on Facebook? Does Casa advertise in both languages? Or is most of their traffic from word of mouth? I can envision you helping to market Casa and drumming up business from your desk here at home!
what're johnnycakes?
i hear you about sleeping in work clothes. i have to wash the library off me right when i get home before i feed hq.
dk
Casa has a Facebook page, but it's really just for alumni use. We advertise in both languages in local magazines and in Spanish on the radio and TV in Juarez. The staff is working on more advertising methods all the time. Right now, the best method is word of mouth.
Johnnycakes are a type of bread (similar to naan or fry bread) that is from the Caribbean islands. Specifically, this midwife makes them the way she learned when she lived on St Thomas, which is where she's from. They are so good!
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