Category: Uncategorized
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A Difficult Day
The morning starts with a bang. Doctor’s gather in the hallway, rainbow lorikeets coming to roost. Bedside, the red button is pushed, “don’t worry M…, lots of people will arrive soon, you need some extra help.” Blue curtains whooshed back, “Need me to call?” “Yep” A seamless dance begins, crash-trolley in, furniture back, medics swoop,…
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Another Day At The Office
Recently had the delightful task in the postnatal ward of weighing the newborn babies going home Wheeling them to the scales one at a time in fish bowl hospital cots Quickly, gently, wrangling them out of clothes and nappy Talking to them , shushing them, apologising for ma cold hands Placing them atop the scales…
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Chapter 18. An Accident
The day I had the accident it was heaving down with rain. I was heading to the GP with my youngest lad to see if he needed antibiotics for a painful ear. Driving uphill on a familiar straight stretch of road, down through winding rainforest, a route i’d taken hundreds of times before, was comfortable…
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A Shift In The ED
Nurses learn to navigate the back and forth between the world of hospital and the world of everyday norms, one minute dealing with intense human vulnerability the next heading home to family, to the normal domestic routine. We learn to make the switch (hopefully), not bring work home, out of head onto paper helps me…
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My Birth Stories
“Women who’ve had positive birth experiences should talk about them more, explain their step by step journey to having that positive birth, getting away from the idea that good births just come about by luck” Rhea Dempsey Both my births were rare in today’s world. Spontaneous labours, no vaginal examinations, no drugs, no one touching…
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Floods, Mudslides and Roadblocks Feb 2022
It had been raining non-stop for days culminating in the worst flooding event for years, six months rainfall in one weekend, records smashed in my state of QLD. My usual commute to work is 30-50 minutes. I was booked to work early shifts Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday morning drive in was straightforward, first small…
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Chapter 16. Complications
Usually pregnancy is a joyful time but for some women things go wrong. Stuck in hospital, separated from family, friends and support network, often miles from home, joy is replaced by anxiety and fear For some women …..
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We Are Worth It
I wrote this blog in Feb 2022 in the midst of the pandemic while working many shifts in my hospitals COVID ward. Around that time my NSW colleagues had taken strike action due to serious concerns about the quality of care they were able to give. Unacceptable nurse:patient ratios and pay inequity the major problems…
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Chapter 14. Team work , respect and kindness
I’m usually calm and professional at work (on the outside anyway) only losing my composure once, with a bully type colleague. The older you get, it’s easier to take these people on, call out the behaviour, it’s never comfortable but important to find your voice when someone is taking the piss. Empathic , tolerant ,…
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Chapter 10. Hands Off The Baby
My casual midwifery career began on the postnatal/antenatal ward of a big tertiary hospital. This is a light-hearted take, the realities of hospital postnatal care for woman and midwife i’ll write about further in. “Ah you’re a midwife , must be lovely cuddling babies all day!” That old chestnut. To set the record straight, newborn…
