Ode to L&D Nurses

I've been asked by friends and family alike if babies come out the same way in the antipodes as they do back home in the states. The answer: they do indeed. And while the healthcare system is wildly different here, midwifery is midwifery, and I'm happy to be catching babies again.

I miss my sister-midwives (I'm from Utah, after all), and I love hearing their stories as we move away from Utah and on with our lives catching babies and working with women all over the planet. I also miss my sister L&D nurses. I miss you personally (nights at work aren't as fun here without you!) but I'm also missing you professionally, because you see there are no L&B (labour and birthing) nurses here. This has been, far and away, the hardest transition for me to make.

Midwives here perform the role of nurses in the US in addition to being the midwife. (We're also the MAs, and sometimes the cleaners, but we never have to be the ward clerk.) They do not teach OB in nursing school here, so all antepartum and postpartum patients are cared for by midwives. So, nurses, you can just consider yourself midwives because you are!

At a typical birth in the states there would be a woman and her baby, a nurse, and a midwife (or MD). Usually there is a support person. Rarely, a pediatrician. Each person plays a part but the woman does most of the really important stuff, and the rest of us are just there to support her. Usually the midwife (or MD) catches the baby, but sometimes the woman reaches down and catches her own baby, and that is one of my most favorite things in the whole world! And sometimes the nurse catches it because the midwife (or MD) is in the loo or whatever. Once the baby is out the nurse has a million things to do, and has to do them quickly, but the most important job is watching over the baby and making sure it breathes for the first time just like it should, and if the baby seems a bit stunned the nurse starts resuscitation (CPR for babies). So nurses are invaluable. I should state that the role of nurse is sometimes filled by a second midwife at birth centers, so you don't technically have to have a nurse. The point is there are at two people at the birth - one focusing on the woman, one for the baby.

OK. So here, like I said, we don't have nurses. And, like the States, we have a staff shortage, so finding a free midwife to assist you as second midwife at a birth is difficult. I have yet to find one when I want one (but they do respond to the emergency light, and unlike the States only one or two people enter the room instead of 57, and the rest wait in the hall to act as runners if needed - I LOVE this). I haven't had enough births here to experience a typical one yet, but it generally goes like this: woman, baby, midwife. Maybe support person. Woman pushes baby out, I catch, and then I have a million things to do, including all baby care! The trickiest part is maintaining sterility, and I have yet to use less than 8 pairs of sterile gloves at a birth.

So far it is all working out and each birth seems a little less chaotic, but going it alone as a new midwife within a foreign health system in a foreign country, is certainly challenging and out of my comfort zone. I miss having nurses to formulate a plan with and get feedback from. I miss having another pair of eyes and a different perspective. So, L&D nurses, when you visit me in NZ plan to spend a day at my hospital so I can enjoy your company again (and so I can catch up on all the gossip!) because I miss you like crazy!

Finally: A Biking Post!

WARNING: Racy Content!

This post is dedicated to all you Lit riders back home.

Many of you have been waiting a long, long time for a BRAMPA biking post and I'm am pleased to finally supply one! And what this post lacks in actual biking, it makes up with provocative themes!

Last week I found myself downtown trying to buy a phone for our new house in Mission Bay. The main drag downtown is Queen Street, and while it is always a busy street I felt it was busier than usual.

Or perhaps this is just the usual lunch time rush?

But wait - people are lining up. clearly anticipating something.

And now the police are here! And more and more people keep coming! It's a parade, no doubt! What fun!

I ask the happy fellow next to me about what is happening, and find out that today is "Boobs on Bikes!" (Read more about this strange phenomenon and its controversy here, here and here.) As a feminist, midwife, women's health advocate and woman I am amazed at my luck! I call B to taunt him for missing it.

The crowd is getting very excited now. At 100,000 strong, my fellow Aucklanders and I have taken over the whole street. Will it become a Boob riot? I'm a little surprised at how involved I am in this adventure as I, 1- have my own breasts and 2- am exposed to breasts daily at work. Then it becomes clear that something is happening just ahead:

Oh, just the protesters! Nary a breast in sight! Disappointed (no Boobs, no Bikes. Boohoo!), and a little shamed, I continue on my phone quest. After all, if I had to choose I would be behind the banner and not on the back of a bike with boobs bared. Still, there is something about a parade... (or maybe it is just all the pheromones in the air?)

I'm ten blocks away when B calls me from the top of Queen street where he and his colleagues have come to see the spectacle. There are Boobs after all! Hooray! He taunts me for missing it.

I ran 10 blocks uphill (me!) elbowing my way through the crowds to get you the following breathtaking photos of 2008's Boobs on Bikes, Auckland edition (Personal Aside for la Hamburglar: I hear rumors of a Wellington edition...):

But first let's talk for a moment about the weather in Auckland in Winter, and what constitutes appropriate apparel. Average daily highs are in the low 50's. It is frequently windy and rainy (both separately and together). While some of the bystanders, below, are baring a limb or two, most are sensibly dressed in pants and jackets as it is COLD today.

Just look at all those men with cameras! Clearly something exciting is happening to Camera Left! Let the Boobs begin:

I'm not sure why they are riding on a tank, actually.

These hot babes were my favorite! and they have such nice breasts! But where are the Bikes?

There they are! Granted, these are not the "right" kind of bikes, but surely it will inspire some back home to make the necessary corrections for the SLC edition of Boobs on Bikes.

I am always baffled by the common combination of older, heavier, hairier, over-dressed biker man with younger, lighter, under-dressed woman on the back. Clearly he is unnecessary to this parade and is even impeding visualization of the Boobs. Perhaps riding a motorbike while showing your breasts to one hundred thousand people is asking too much though. Maybe these women could face backwards?

I see it is also possible to have older, heavier, over-dressed biker man with a younger, lighter, under-dressed man on the back, though I think this is a less popular combination. The crowd doesn't seem too interested, but I got several pleasing shots of these boobs.

Let me just reiterate: it is cold here. This woman was covered in goosebumps. Her mate was covered in oil. I know this because I was Front Row. Sometimes it pays to be a tall, pushy, American broad. I admire the dedication of these women in showing it all (and shaking it too!) on a cold winter day in Auckland. Can't wait to see what the summer parades are like!

And the finale! How fitting! I'm proud to see the American spirit so eloquently represented!

Stay tuned for Life of a Midwife, NZ Style (not just another boob story)!

Big, little.

I wish I could say that the reason our blog has been so quiet is because we have been busy exploring and having adventures. We have in fact been busy, we have been exploring and we have all had some adventures, but these are not blog worthy events as all we have been doing lately is moving into our new house, biking to work, working a lot and sleeping. In a few weeks things will settle down and we will slip back into our lives of leisure and pleasure here in New Zealand. We have some fun plans - a train ride south to visit our good friend RL who recently moved all the way across the planet to join us in NZ (albeit he is still a 12 hour train ride from Auckland), and a Great Walk (still voting on which one, suggestions?).

But let us now talk about things Big and little. Let's start by looking at a map:

So as to not embarrass all of you geography slobs in the US, let's orient ourselves: New Zealand, in orange, is top, center and the US, in green, is middle, left (geez, Canada's enormous, eh?). Mali, in green, is middle, right, but that really has nothing to do with this.

So America is a big country, coming in at almost 4 million square miles (3,794,083). The land area of New Zealand is much smaller at just over 100,000 square miles (103,733). Look at the map again. See how small NZ is? It looks like it's about the size of Florida and Maine combined. Actually that was a lucky guess on my part as the total square miles of Florida and Maine combined equal 101,073 square miles. Here is a neat factoid: The coastline of New Zealand is almost double the coastline of the continental US. The NZ coastline is 9,824 miles, and the coastline for the lower 48 is only 5,089 miles! Supposedly this is possible because of all the harbours, islands, fjords, firths, nooks and crannies that make up the coast, but I think some investigating is in order. Sea kayaking, anyone?

Let's continue our Big, little comparison on a smaller, more personal scale. In preparation to move overseas, and knowing we were sending a big shipment over, I stocked up on some necessities at Costco.

Here we have some deodorant. The deodorant on the left is from the US and weighs in at 92 grams. I should note this is an "average" American-sized deodorant, but is not super-Costco sized. The deodorant on the right is from NZ, is typical of the size of deodorant found here, and weighs 50 grams. Note the baseless statement on the American product "25% higher performing odor protection."

Here is some Colgate toothpaste. The top tube, weighing 110 grams is from New Zealand. The bottom tube may not appear much larger than the top tube, but is in fact double the size at 221 grams. Surprising to note that the Shrek advertising gimmick is on the NZ tube (It's P's tube). Having used both sizes I can say that the US tube is difficult to use one handed, as it really requires two hands to squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube (B doesn't have this problem and likes his tubes big).

Shampoo. I'm fairly certain that y'all can figure out which one came from Costco. What can I say - I'm a Pantene girl. And look how long it has lasted me! (Aside: I would like to officially declare that the Pantene bought here is NOT the same as the Pantene bought at home, and is in fact inferior. Alas.) Granted, 1.18 liters is a lot of shampoo, but it cost the same as the 350ml bottle I bought here in NZ. Which brings me to my final Big, little comparison: the soda.

Ah, the Big Gulp, and it's buddy the Double Gulp. Coming in a 44 and 64 fluid ounces, respectively, I grew up knowing these as "bladder busters." Sometimes you just need a lot of soda.

Here are some hastily taken photos of Coca-Cola in a local gas station. For some reason taking these pictures made me nervous. Anyway, the bottle on the upper shelf is 600ml (equal to about 2.5 cups in the US, or "small"). The bottom bottle is 1.5 liters (that's 52 fl oz - midway between the super big and double Gulps) and will cost you NZ$2.99 (~US$2.35).

Here is the really interesting part: the 600ml bottle is NZ$3.20!

So for 21 cents you get 900ml less! This is a common theme with soda here - less is more. It's as if people think that 1.5 liters of soda is more than one person could handle at a time! too much soda- better to get the small one! Somehow I don't think this will be catching on at 7-11.

Coming up next... a trip to the grocery store (oh the chaos!) in search of Mexican food!

Never Start a Land War in Asia

more graph humor and song chart memes

Update

P spent last week at horse camp and loved every minute of it:

I went to horse camp it was fun!!
On the first day I went to see the horse magic show.
These are the people who trained all of the horses from The Lord Of The Rings.
I got to see and pet Shadowfax Gandalf's horse.

And on the second day we went on a treasure hunt on our horses.
My horse is Kenny. I cantered for the first time.
It was fun except Kenny almost bucked me off.

We had a disco party!!! the music was way loud though
but it was fun.

Today we had a Gymkhana and I won first place in jumping,
and another first place because Kenny was the prettiest
there (grooming skills).

Camp was so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

B skippered a sailing race. He and his crew can be seen in the boat on the far left.

I finally got my registration and will begin working next week! We are shifting (moving), yet again. This time to the burbs. I feel like we just moved and here we are at it again! P started her new, new school this week and we move in Friday! Wish y'all were help to help! Bring your trucks and dollies!

A Sailing Update: The Winter Series, Fast! Furious!

As I have posted on in the past, I've taken up sailing and sailboat racing since moving to NZ. It's been a while since I posted on the races so here's a pictorial update from the fast! and furious! action last Sunday from the racing vessel Hot Prospect.

The competition astern, while not unheard of, is too rare. This seems to be Casco, a comparably sized boat just behind us after a good start. It was a rare westerly and the start was downwind. With 25-35 knot winds and storm conditions predicted the course was kept in the inner harbour. The reality was much more pleasant - 10-15 knots with calm seas and sun. This is the winter series in Auckland. Light jacket weather.




Here's the fast! and furious! crew making a hummus and brie sandwich (not to mention the documentarian). Who's sailing this boat?


This boat, Flojo, takes this rather seriously (and wins the A division, mind you, on gun). Here they are gybing the spinnaker and taking a flyer in hopes of riding the ebbing tide and a reaching course to an advantage. It didn't work. Nonetheless I'll note that they were the fastest boat on the day regardless.

Oracle and crew, I believe, as they passed us. Note the lack of sandwiches.

The Bl**k B**ch.

The crew of the Hot Prospect around the same time, note the presence of fast! and furious! racing stances coupled with hummus and brie sandwiches.

Here's wintertime Auckland. It goes from downright partly cloudy with rain to partly cloudy with rain. The monster (upper left, obviously headed to Remuera for an attack) in the photo did not factor into the race results.


And so it goes: that spot of antifouling on the rudder might well have been mine. Alas.


We were 2nd to last on line and last on handicap. Which means... Progress! We're clearly not the slowest boat around anymore! Right on! I'll also note that Flojo was not at the awards drinking "Lion Red" as were we, the fast! and furious! crew of the racing boat Hot Prospect.

White Rim Blues

As some of you might remember, I (B) used to bike a lot. Quite a lot, in fact. Compared to my merely daily biking now I was fanatical. I wrote a (true) story about one of my more harrowing rides and got it published in DirtRag, a highly respectable biking magazine (also true). An excerpt is in Issue #136 and the entire story and a photo I took was also published on their website. Cool!