Happy Mother's Day

I went to my first delivery last night/this morning. Our mom’s membranes ruptured in the morning and things were slow to start (third baby). I went with the on-call midwife to assess her at home at 9 pm and she was having some contractions and 3 cm dilated. We made plan to see her again at 3 am or for her to call if she needed us beforehand. At 3 we went back and checked again to find things had picked up she was now 5 cm and we moved to the hospital as planned. We met the nurse who would come in for the delivery, but we on our own with the parents for the most part. The midwife did some paperwork (not too much!) and set up for the delivery. The room was similar to a delivery suite here, but there were some big differences. First one, they really crank the heat for the newborn. I was almost falling asleep it was so warm. Next, they put hot water bottles in the newborn cot and warm the baby's first set of clothes in there. There was no emergency equipment (suction, infant oxygen) anywhere in the room that I could see. Also, no infant stethoscope around. The mom did a great job of delivering her baby - this time a daughter to go with her sons. Everything was great, except there was a serious complication with the placenta delivering. She had received oxytocin, but the placenta did not let go from the uterus. The cord detached from the placenta when the midwife tried to deliver it, so our mom had to go into the OR to have the placenta manually removed. At that time we had to transfer care to the hospital OB/GYN and we weren’t allowed to accompany her during the procedure. I wish the whole thing had gone more smoothly at the end, but I guess these things happen sometimes. It is a real pity after a very straightforward delivery. I'll end on a highlight = breakfast in the hospital! If I get to go back I’m going to take a picture of the food cart that they offer to the moms (& partners?). It was full of single servings of delicious bread toppings. I had bread with chocolate sprinkles, a cheese bread and a hard boiled egg with really fresh tasting orange juice. The presentation is so neat and tidy.