lcrossan, Author at The Midwife/Nurse Hobbyfarmer

Navigating The Australian Maternity System 1995

Arriving in Oz I joined an agency needing a salary as soon as possible.

First shift was an early on the postnatal floor of a large public tertiary hospital, old building, no AC, stinking hot 35-degree day, working under the whir of multiple fans, white dress and tights clinging, sweat trickling down my back.

A Community Midwifery Service QLD 1997 – 1999

An accurate quote ❤️

Midwifery is both joyful and painful. We see the best and worst day of people’s lives in our everyday experience. We are incredibly lucky to be part of women’s lives when things are bright and jubilant, but also when they are darkest and most difficult. It allows us to see the light and shade of life in its sharpest exposure
Alexandra Ryan

Another Day At The Office

EMERGENCY 🤕🤒

What’ll the day bring? Slight nerves give an edge working in a place like this, keeps you on yer toes.

People everywhere, organised chaos.

Police, bodies slumped on trolleys, paramedics queue with their unwell human cargo, “not too bad today” says one. A baby wails in the background. A young beetroot faced lass is “finding it hard to breathe.”

A Shift On Maternity ward, Australia 2022

It’s a morning shift, the ward is a long, large L-shape with six bays (four beds in each) seven single rooms and two soundproofed bereavement rooms.

Looking in from the entrance there’s a hive of activity. Cleaners mop, wardies push beds, partners look for loved ones, midwives wheel babies in cots, trolleys jostle for space … blood collectors, meal delivery, laundry and obstetricians with their piles of precariously teetering charts.

Voluminous blue curtains surround each bed giving privacy but it’s noisy with the chorus of call bells, IV pumps, women in early labour, babies crying, private conversations, staff chit-chatting.

Chicken Owning FYI

Owning a few chickens, how hard can it be?

Give em seed, leftover greens, fresh water, shelter, room to do their chicken thing then sit back and enjoy.

The scratching, the dust bathing, the sun baking, the cute clucking.

Therapy pets in your own back yard, delightful.

The First Calf

Barry our first cow dad was delivered from up north. We arrived home to see a young bloke sat on our nature strip, beside him on a lead was cute teenage Baz calmly nibbling the grass.

We watched with bated breath as he sauntered into his new paddock, sniffed Sally then made a beeline for the expensive bale of lucerne in the corner, no fence jumping or running off this time, we were learning.

But this compliant beginning didn’t last.