The Maternity Nurse Diary

It seems to be longer and longer between postings these days. I am so occupied with other things, this poor old blog suffers from neglect!

This year started out in the Caribbean and could be ending in Norway. I am currently in Germany with gorgeous twins and in between there has been Egypt, Spain, Japan, New York, Ukraine and again the Caribbean – mostly work, but a bit of play too.

It’s been a full on year for extremes. Until June, I was working full on and barely a moment to myself. Then from June the financial downturn in Europe saw all my work evaporate and only through luck and a couple of good referrals have I kept myself afloat.

This is the first time in over 9 years of maternity nursing, that I have seen my work drop to a level like this. Even during the 2008 depression, I was still working and turning down jobs. Not so lucky this time and I am feeling it.

I had 2 flatmates who were also maternity nurses. Both of them have had the same experience. We were all home for some weeks lamenting the lack of work, but we all slowly found ourselves a job and have moved on – at least temporarily until we need another!

This week seemed to pick up a bit for me and I now have a few options on the go.

It’s all down to crossed fingers and luck… Here’s hoping I am writing from another exotic location soon… In fact, even London will do for now!

Well, it seems like the arnica cream worked again!

The little one has a line of light bruising on his head without any severe swelling or excessive colouration.  Incredible given the impact of his fall.

Amazing stuff!

Today 10 month old No1 fell backwards on to the edge of a coffee table and hit his head with a lot of force.

First thing first, a cuddle and establish the severity of his injury. Thank goodness he didn’t cut his head, although there was a line of blood ready to escape had his fall been a tiny bit harder.

Next step was to find the arnica cream. After applying it, I swear the line of blood under his skin almost dissolved! Less then an hour later there was barely a mark.

We reapplied at bedtime and I will be curious to see how it looks in the morning.

The same little one also went for a dive about 10 days ago and landed on his forehead with full force. Again I applied arnica straight away and a few times throughout the day. Next day there was no sign of a bruise!

Poor little man, here’s hoping that’s the end of his accidents for a while. But in the meantime thanks goodness for arnica!

It’s been a ling time again and so long in fact that the spam demons are targeting my blog with links in the comments section so instead of constantly having to log in to trash comments, I’ll try to write something and see if that stops it.

I’m away with a family at the moment in the Caribbean. I’ve been with this family for almost 10 months, my longest job yet. I have 2 lovely, lively little boys to look after. They are extraordinarily gorgeous and I have loved working with them for this long.

Like all jobs it has it challenges and it’s ups and downs. At times it’s been very difficult as I’m dealing with much older babies then I usually do. The problem and concerns are quite different so it’s keeping me on my toes.

I only have another week on holiday with them and then a week at home and then I’m finished. It will be a sad day when I leave the boys.

I haven’t got anything booked for the coming months except a well earned holiday and I may take a trip home also.

…the last 6 months gone??

I have taken a job with less hours for the next 5 months – although what hours I do are very intense.  I have another set of triplets to care for, this time 2 boys and a girl.

My first girl in 21 months!  Working with a girl again is taking some getting used to.  It surprises me just how differently people treat baby girls and boys!

I went back a few weeks ago to do a couple of days nannying for my last set of triplets and I was very pleasantly surprised how easy to care for they were – I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the usual nanny had left me incredibly detailed instructions and prepared most of the meals in advance!

The boys are adorable and all very chilled and lovely!  I am possibly going back this week for a morning or afternoon with them while their dad has a meeting.  They are nearly 18months now and cheeky as monkeys – all of them!

My current babies are now 4.5 weeks old and all doing very well.  Each week I turn up to find they have grown huge amounts!  It certainly is different doing 2 days a week instead of 6.