That New Mother's Glow

I recently had the privilege of providing labor support and catching the baby of one our employees in the finance department at the nursing school. It came in the midst of a busy week and really a very busy day. Things were busy at the Nursing School with the seniors doing their final presentations (like a thesis but at the associate degree level). I had a teammate who had motorbike accident and hurt his knee, so we were in the process of trying to get him to Malaysia for MRI (no machine available here in this part of Indonesia). I was helping support an expat mom here in Indonesia who was having a miscarriage. And it was Ladies Bible Study night. As I wrapped up the work day Ibu (Mrs) Milka came to me with a few questions and asked if I thought she was going to be having the baby soon. After a quick exam on a set of chairs in our conference room I let her know the baby had dropped very low into the pelvis and had palpated a couple of decently strong contractions. I said based on that it could be tonight or several days still but I suspected it would be soon.

Just a few hours later I got a call from the maternity ward saying she had been admitted in labor and was asking for me. So I headed down to the hospital to do labor support and just be around in case she needed anything. It is always a bit awkward when your patients are friends and co-workers, because you don't really know how much care they want you to provide and how much they want you to see. When I walked into the labor ward though that all went out the window as she was obviously in transition. That is an overwhelming time for anyone and it didn't take me long to switch into midwife mode. With the first sign she was getting ready to push, I was the one checking her and then helping her get moved to the delivery room. I grabbed an apron and sterile gloves and as she moved her water broke and baby was crowing with the wave of water. A few minutes later Baby Gabriel joined us with a big cry. It wasn't long till we had her settled back in the ward with her baby where he nursed like a champ.

I took this picture shortly before I went home. Her look of joy and peace just stopped me. In the midst of the busyness it was good to stop and remember how beautiful a new mom looks. Gotta love that oxytocin!