The Maternity Nurse Diary

It’s 3 months since I wrote here.  Shocking to think so much time has passed!  It’s been a long few months over winter with the most challenging job of my career so far.

I finished with the Springfield twins in February and went on to work with another set of twins for a few weeks.  My mum had worked with them for 4 weeks and had to move on to her next job and this mother wasn’t ready to go it alone.  It coincided perfectly with me leaving my job so I went in to lend a hand.

Unfortunately I came down with a cold and ended up having to take a week off in the middle of this last job.  Have now pretty much recovered after more then a month of runny nose, sore head and coughing. 

I am away this week in Prague while awaiting my next babies to arrive - hopefully next week!

Looking forward to meeting them!

We are back in London now having spent 6 weeks in Springfield and Chicago, Illinois.

I have started with the twins.  No1 has gone back into hospital so I spend my days with No2.  He is very sweet, although still tends to spend most of his time sleeping and being woken to feed. 

Long may it last!

My next babies (twins) have arrived and I will be starting with them at the end of next week.

They were born at 28weeks and have been in hospital for about 6 weeks so all going well, I will get to meet them very soon!

I can’t wait!

…babies so much when I don’t work. 

It’s been all of a week now since I last worked and I miss not holding and interacting with a little one (or two, or three!).

My next babies have already arrived and so instead of 7 weeks off work, I am hoping that is going to be reduced somewhat.  It will all be dependant on how long they need the extra care of the hospital.

I am wondering if the credit crunch has caused a ‘lack of babies’ crunch.

I spend some of my spare time (spare time!!??) trawling the internet finding job offers that may interest me.  And in the last few months I’ve noticed that, where there used to be too many to choose from, there is now a scrum for every job.  The jobs are scarce and not so many of the ‘exceptional’ jobs that always whetted my appetite for more work!

None of the 12 weeks in Frankfurt with ski holiday, 8weeks in the Bahamas, 12 weeks in London with several overseas trips throughout the contract, etc etc.

Here’s hoping it improves in time for when I’m next needing to book a contract!!

I am in a new job now with a little singleton boy.  I call him little but in the scheme of things he is actually quite big.  He weighed in at 8lb 7oz and has ENORMOUS feet!

He’s doing well for a boy of 3 days old, sleeping, eating and having the odd litttle moan here and there.  He slept very well last night and I hope now that he has set the pattern of things to come!

We have managed 2 walks so far in the glorious weather that we have finally been graced with.  Long may it last as the grey, miserable London days are not the most fun… 

This was published in the Evening Standard on the 15 September 2008… Fascinating!

A woman’s nightmare about being pregnant with quintuplets has inspired one of the pictures shortlisted for the National Portrait Gallery’s £12,000 photographic portrait prize.

Artist Lottie Davies, 37, of Highbury, asked friends to tell her about their bad dreams and childhood memories.

Mother-of-two Caroline Sibley, 42, confessed to having the nightmare in which she was panic-stricken at the thought of more children. The dream saw her worry about how they would ever fit into a car and having to give up work to care of them.

Five’s a crowd: Lottie Davies’s Quints was inspired by a friend’s
 bad dream about being pregnant with quintuplets

Davies has brought the scenario to life in her photograph Quints, with the help of assistant Alicia Clarke. Ms Clarke’s 10-week-old niece, Marla Gooch, posed in many different positions to create the illusion of five babies.

“It was so peculiar, an anxiety dream,” Davies said. “Caroline is really surprised by the picture but really pleased. I think, because I went quite baroque, it may not have been what was in her mind.”

Ms Clarke, 33, who is a photographer herself and lives in Lewisham, added: “It was one of the baby’s first outings into the world. It was fantastic to be involved and that we’ve been immortalised and will be hanging on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.”

The work is one of four shortlisted for the prize sponsored by law firm Taylor Wessing.

The others include Murdoch Reflects, a portrait of Rupert Murdoch in his office at News Internationalin Wapping commissioned by Time magazine from photojournalist Tom Stoddart.

Hendrik Kerstens, 53, from Holland, produced a humorous portrait, Bag, which depicts a plastic bagmodelled in the style of a 17th-century cap. Catherine Balet, 49, from Paris, has presented a photograph, Ines connected with Amina, of two teenagers online.

All will go on show in an exhibition of 60 pictures selected from more than 6,000. Gallery director Sandy Nairne said: “You couldn’t get more different than that wonderful documentary portrait of Murdoch looking unbelievably glum, or thoughtful, the brilliant play with the plastic bag, the semi-documentary of the two women wired to the world and the utterly constructed Quints that was so delightful.”

The overall winner will be announced on 4 November. The exhibition opens to the public two days later and runs until 15 February.

I left the boys 4 hours ago…

They were sleeping blissfully in their cots while I hoisted 3 months worth of collected belongings down the stairs.  I can’t believe how much I have accumulated and now comes the real challenge - I have to fit it all back into the tiny room that I share with my mother. 

Yesterday Mummy and I finally managed to get a plaster cast of one of the boys feet.  We’d been intending to get a kit a long long time ago…  

We were so impressed with the results we immediately wanted to wake the other two and stuff their little toes into some cold, damp putty too!  We restrained ourselves until this morning and we now have 3 little left feet awaiting a finishing touch. 

I have a week before starting a short job with a single baby - I’m hoping it will be somewhat of a walk in the park after triplets, but won’t be depending on it just in case.

Mummy, Daddy and the three begin the next leg of their life journey today.  It’s been a pleasure and a privilage sharing three months with them all and I will miss waking up to the lip smacking sounds of No3 sucking his thumb, while No1 coo’s a little morning story and No2 looks on with great interest.