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    Special Deliveries in Unusual Places
    Special Deliveries in Unusual Places
    Special Deliveries in Unusual Places
    Ebook125 pages1 hour

    Special Deliveries in Unusual Places

    By D. J. Kirkby

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    About this ebook

    Think all women give birth in hospital? Think again! From nightclubs to churches, bathtubs to toilets, and trains to planes – this volume in the Special Deliveries series focuses on some of the more unusual places where women have birthed babies.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherD. J. Kirkby
    Release dateAug 1, 2015
    Special Deliveries in Unusual Places
    Author

    D. J. Kirkby

    Dee lives in the South of England in a home otherwise filled with males - husband, boys and pets - she writes to escape the testosterone. She is the Patron of Reading at Newbridge Junior School and was the 2012 Writer in Residence for Portsmouth Libraries. Dee writes using the name D.J. Kirkby and Dee Kirkby. Dee is the author of Without Alice, My Dream of You, Realand, Raffie Island and Queendom (The Portal Series for children), Special Deliveries: Life Changing Moments, My Mini Midwife, The Rules and Special Deliveries in Unusual Places.

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      Book preview

      Special Deliveries in Unusual Places - D. J. Kirkby

      Foreword

      Midwives’ registration and conduct is monitored by a regulatory body called the Nursing and Midwifery Council. There are many statute laws and codes of conduct within which parameters we are required to practice midwifery. This, plus our intensive training and yearly updates, helps keep the women and babies under our care as safe as possible.

      We are assigned Supervisors of Midwives who meet with us at least once a year to ensure that we have done the necessary training and other requirements in order to be able to register our intent to practice as a midwife for the forthcoming year. They also act as a go between and support mechanism for the midwife and woman if there are any incidents or concerns.

      Doctors also have a governing body, the General Medical Council, though they may also have an additional one if they chose to specialise, for example the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Each profession will expect their members to conduct themselves according to their policies. Obstetricians are required to conduct instrumental and operative deliveries in hospital, and midwives are legally bound to attend to a birthing woman wherever that may be: in hospital, at home and anywhere in between.

      The stories in this book focus on these births and within them you will read about births in nightclubs, churches, bathtubs, toilets, tents, trains, planes and more. This book is shorter than the first in the series – Special Deliveries: Life Changing Moments because I am writing about a topic that is naturally limited by the fact that such occurrences happen only occasionally.

      I have used literary licence to alter identifying factors and events so that all the stories within this book, although based on elements of actual midwifery practice, have been heavily fictionalised in order to maintain the anonymity of those I have cared for and worked with throughout the years. Therefore any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. Finally, all opinions in this book are entirely my own, and in no way attempt to reflect the thoughts of the midwifery profession as a whole.

      Yurt

      As I said in the foreword, midwives are legally bound to attend to a birthing woman wherever that may be: in hospital, at home and anywhere in between. When I say anywhere, I do mean anywhere, including the tent I was preparing to help Kelly birth her baby in. I peeled my gloves off and dropped them in the bright yellow biohazard bag that seemed to be trying to outshine the paler yellow of the sunlight seeping through the thick canvas surrounding the birth space. I grinned reassuringly at Carl the dad-to-be as I washed my hands in the stainless steel basin that I had brought with me. I quietly opened the delivery pack, trying not to disturb Kelly who was resting with her eyes shut as she waited for the next urge to push. All of the birthing equipment and even my uniform and the presence of the second midwife seemed glaringly out of place here, but like with any birth experience it all served a purpose in helping me do different aspects of my job.

      Calling this birth environment a tent was technically correct, but it was much more glamorous than that really and I had been told by Kelly and Carl that it was a replica of a Mongolian yurt. It even offered the luxury of standing and moving around room, the lack of which has always been key in my dislike of camping. They rented it out to guests much like one would rent out a room in a house used as a B&B facility. I wondered if Kelly would tell subsequent visitors after the delivery that she had birthed her baby in there. I wasn’t sure if that would attract or repel potential guests. Kelly and Carl had replaced the large double bed which was in the Yurt for guests with a double futon that she hadn’t used during her labour but was now lying on as she breathed deeply and moaned as she was overwhelmed by the urges to push.

      Kelly did have a perfectly good house in which to deliver but she had decided that she would be more ‘at one with nature’ if she delivered her baby while sheltered in the yurt in the middle of one of the fields which rolled away from her house. When she had told me that she had finally decided on her place of birth, her pregnancy was going very well, she was due in the early summer, the access to the tent and ability to manoeuvre within was good, Kelly was open to having back up midwifery staff there during the delivery, there was running water and even a small wood stove if heat and hot water were needed; try as I might I could find no genuine reason not to support her in this desire to birth in an environment that seemed more outdoors than sheltered. With Kelly’s permission I discussed the situation thoroughly with my Supervisor of Midwives to make sure there was no risk that I hadn’t thought of. She then went out to visit Kelly and Carl and ensure that all the options and possible scenarios had been discussed between myself and Kelly to assure herself that she had made an informed choice about her place of birth. With all the possible loose ends tidied away I began to look forward to supporting Kelly and Carl with their birth experience in the unusual environment.

      The yurt was some distance from where I could park my car and I knew that I would have a lot of equipment to get here once she went into labour. To reduce the amount that would need to be carried by myself and my colleague who would be second midwife present in case extra help was required for any reason, I made sure there was a delivery kit and other supplies stashed in a clean and dry area of the yurt. I went about my work with what felt like a constant awareness of the approaching due date in the back of my mind; would I be the lucky midwife who was on duty when this woman went into labour? Assisting at a yurt birth was likely to be a once in a career experience!

      I am a big advocate of homebirths and think there is a definite place for them in modern midwifery for the right woman and for midwives with the right skill set. The rest of the midwifery team knew of this woman and her desire for a tent birth, and most were willing to support her. This was a good thing because if I wasn’t on duty when this woman went into labour then one of them would have to attend for the birth but ideally it would be a midwife who felt relaxed about assisting at births in unusual places as not all of us do. I assured the rest of the team that there were all the facilities they could expect at a homebirth, the only difference was that this was in a large round tent.

      As luck would have it, Carl phoned to say Kelly was in labour at the start of one of my long shifts. I spoke to both of them and could tell that Kelly was in established labour, contracting strongly for a good amount of time to assure me that there was no reason for her contractions to stop. Because of the distance they were from base I went out to them straight away with a promise from my colleague that she would follow within an hour or sooner if I should decide I needed her. Normally the second midwife would not be called to standby until the woman is in the second stage of labour but in this instance it had been agreed ahead of time that we would both attend sooner than we usually would.

      Kelly birthed her baby with just a little support from me, and a lot of love from Carl; their daughter emerging serenely into the world in controlled increments. In hindsight the second midwife wasn’t needed, except to make tea and toast for the new parents while I cleared up, and to help me carry everything back to the car afterwards. We left the new family snuggled up together on the futon a few hours after the birth, a fire burning in the woodstove as the late afternoon shadows brought a slight chill with them. My midwifery colleague and I had smiles on our faces as we trudged down the hill to the house where we had parked our cars. Midwifery is definitely a profession that offers myriad opportunities to see life from different angles.

      Trins

      Some people say one child is enough, whilst others plan for and welcome subsequent pregnancies with eager anticipation. If you were to tell the former that they were pregnant with more than one baby, it would undoubtedly be an unpleasant shock. However, being told you are having twins instead of just the one baby can come as a shock to even those who welcome the idea of having a larger family. Chloe Burns and her husband Derek belonged in the latter category.

      ~~

      I walked into the crowded waiting room smiling at the women I recognised and wondering where my next client had hidden herself. ‘Chloe Burns?’ I said and looked around again when no one moved towards me. I had looked after Chloe with her last pregnancy, and I was looking forward to doing the same again. A woman I didn’t recognise smiled and pointed behind me at the same time as I felt a tug on my trousers.

      I turned and looked down at the little face capped in blond hair that was peering up at me, a serious expression on his face. The boy had one hand firmly wrapped around the material of my trousers just above my knee to steady himself. ‘Hello, I’m Denyse, what’s your name?’ I said and held a reassuring hand up to his mum who was poised ready to free my trousers from his grasp.

      ‘Bobby!’ he said proudly. ‘I’m gunna be helping Mummy! I’m a big boy!’

      ‘Nice

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