unit. ‘I’m just as keen to get back to work. My baby is four months old and I’ve left milk with our housekeeper. I hope she’ll be fine.’
‘I fed my son, Hamish, like that for a year when I went back to work. He managed well. We’re glad to have some help here.’
‘So you have someone in labour?’ Georgia felt the exhilaration build.
‘Yep. I’ll take you in and introduce you. The rest of the ward can wait. We’ve only two other maternities in. The general ward staff will watch them while we have someone in labour. Most of the alternate lifestyle women here go home four hours after birth and the two mums we have staying are Caesareans births back from the base hospital.’
Georgia followed her new friend down the ward to the end of the corridor and was given a chart from the bench outside the birthing-room door.
‘So let’s do it.’ Karissa tapped the notes. ‘Mel and Tim are having their second baby. The first labour was quick and with no problems two years ago.
‘Mel is due tomorrow. She began regular painful contractions at five this morning and the pains are now gradually increasing in intensity.’ Karissa pointed out the graph she’d charted.
‘Her waters broke at six.’
That’s how it’s supposed to be, Georgia thought as Elsa’s wild birth came to mind. And then she thought of Max, but he was too distracting a thought when she was at work. ‘It sounds great.’
‘They’re excited. She seems to be well established in this labour and, except for some baseline observations, I’ve left them pretty much to themselves to get settled in.’
Karissa knocked and pushed open the door. Mel was leaning over a bench and Tim was massaging her lower back with a rolling dolphin massager. They both looked up briefly and smiled but withdrew their attention until after the contraction finished.
Georgia liked that. The mother needed to stay focussed. She glanced around the homey room. Floral home-made curtains, comfortable recliner rocker, beanbag and gym mat in the corner. It all made for a relaxing atmosphere.
Karissa quietly reminded her where all the emergency medical equipment was hidden behind flip-down cupboards and Georgia had been orientated to the rest of the ward a few days previously by the nurse manager.
While they waited for Mel’s contraction to end, haunting instrumental music strummed from somewhere unseen, and it added to the mood in the room which was intense but focussed.
Mel sighed long and loudly and Georgia saw her shoulders drop with the release of air and the prompt of Tim’s soothing stroke on her shoulder.
She stepped forward to introduce herself quietly before the next contraction hit. ‘Hi. I’m Georgia. I’m taking over from Karissa. You’re both very good at this, aren’t you?’ She smiled.
‘So far it’s better than little Andy’s labour,’ Mel said.
‘Great.’ Georgia picked up the foetal heart monitor. ‘That’s a great tummy you have there, Mel. Will it disturb your rhythm if I listen to your baby’s heart rate through the next contraction, please?’
‘Go ahead. We love to hear the baby.’ Mel patted her stomach. ‘It is a pretty cool watermelon but I’ll be glad to swap a heavy bulge for a baby.’
Georgia leaned in next to Mel and placed the finger-shaped ultrasound doppler a few inches below Mel’s belly button and the clip-clop sound of Mel and Tim’s baby filled the room. Everyone smiled until the next contraction started and Mel and Tim went back to work.
The baby’s heart rate continued strongly and even picked up pace for most of the contraction before evening out again. Mel sighed as the contraction finished and the baby’s heart rate clopped along merrily. Satisfied, Georgia stepped back and wiped the conducting jelly off Mel’s abdomen.
‘That’s great. Baby is cruising in there. I’ll leave you for a few minutes to complete the handover with Karissa and then I’ll be back to do a few observations on you. Then we’ll talk about your preferences for the birth.’
Georgia followed Karissa out the door and closed it behind them. They could hear the murmur of the next contraction starting.
‘They’re wonderful.’
‘Yeah. Lucky you for a nice shift and you get to catch a baby. Come on, I’ll show you the rest.’ Karissa breezed into an open ward where two women sat up in bed, eating their breakfast.
‘This is Leanne and Tanya, our two postnatal ladies. And this is Georgia, who is your midwife on today.’
‘Good morning.’ Georgia waved. ‘I’ll see more of you when we’ve had our baby, but for the moment do you need anything in case I get tied up in the birthing room?’
‘I’m fine.’ Leanne waved them away with her piece of toast and Tanya smiled and shook her head.
‘I’ll see you later, then. You can buzz if you need someone, but otherwise just have a lazy morning and we’ll catch up later.’
‘Sounds good,’ Leanne said around her next bite.
‘Leanne likes her food,’ Karissa whispered with a grin as they walked back towards the desk. ‘I just wish I could put it away like she does and still stay that thin. And if you can’t find Tanya, she pops out for a cigarette. She’s trying to give up.’
She glanced at the clock and grimaced. ‘That’s about all. When Mel’s ready to birth, push the red call button and one of the girls will come down from the ward to help you.’
‘The on-call doctor…’ Karissa grinned cheekily ‘…in this case your husband, can be contacted on the pager number if you need him.’
Georgia nodded and fought down the warmth that spread through her just thinking of Max. It was happening more often when she thought of him. What was wrong with her? ‘What about pain relief orders if Mel wants something?’
‘There is a doctor’s standing order book there which spells out the options, and it is countersigned by the locums when they come the first day. I usually let the doctor know if I give any analgesia or do an internal examination so they know where the woman is in her labour in case we need them. Otherwise they will drop in before and after work.’
‘Thanks,’ said Georgia. ‘That all seems pretty standard to any of the small hospitals I’ve worked at.’
Karissa picked up her bag. ‘I have a feeling Max would like to be here but if you ring him don’t let him push you out of the way for the birth. We can’t have him begin bad habits and we catch our own babies here. But he’ll let you know when he does his morning round.’
Georgia savoured the thought of having Max there for their first professional birth together. It would be lovely to share such a moment with him and until she knew what sort of back-up the general ward nurses wanted to be, the idea seemed sensible.
Karissa went on. ‘It works for us. On paper, it’s sad our only OB GP has retired, but in fact he rarely came for deliveries and high-risk women were shipped out anyway. If we stick to low-risk labours, I can’t see why we couldn’t do what we’ve always done and keep training
