Déjà vu

For you overseas readers we had our first community case of Delta in NZ last week. A big deal for us and we very quickly went into our most extreme lockdown level that same night.

So today is day five of level four lockdown. I made dumplings. From scratch. I don’t know what I was thinking. I know better than that. But a friend posted the recipe and as usual I didn’t think it through.

They stuck to everything. Then tore! They stuck to the bench when I rolled them out and the plate - while the finished ones waited for the unfinished ones to hurry up - there was no hurry though, I spent two hours and they were no better than the supermarket version.

In fact they were worse.

I EVEN MINCED MY OWN PORK! Yes that’s a thing, you have to chop it very finely. Now I have a plaster on my index finger that won’t stop p*#*ing blood. Lucky I type with my thumbs.

So I’m not doing that again. Then I washed my shower curtains. Fun times.

Why aren’t I doing pottery you ask? Good point. Yesterday I was working on a commission for eight mugs. The clay the client wanted has lots of grog in it. Which feels like little bits of sand. I didn’t notice at the time but I wore my two middle fingernails down so far that they now curve the wrong way, into the skin. Who knew that was possible? Anyway the bandaids match the one on my index finger 🙄.

So Martha Stewart I am not. Nor Demi Moore apparently.

Stick to the day job me thinks. Which was back to midwifery phone consults last week. I printed out my Covid tracer barcode to have in my car for women to scan during my visits to their home. Looks good I thought. Except closer inspection showed I had spelt the name of my home town wrong. Went to reprint and there is not one jot of A4 paper in my house and the twink has dried up. So now I live in a fantasy village of my own making. Nice.

This week I will be masked up while I visit the clients that are deemed urgent enough to need a physical exam. First I have to determine this over the phone the day before. And hope that I get it right. As well as screen them for Covid. Then fit them in for a 15 min appointment - making sure they don’t cross in the waiting room - in order to make sure their babies are growing according to their customised growth chart and that they themselves are also well. For the ones at home I will first very quickly waft the Covid barcode in front of their eyes. Then I will clean my clinic after every client. Oh joy.

Easy enough in theory, but 15 minutes is not long, especially if a client is anxious. Wish me luck. One couple I need to have the ‘birth talk’ with. This is usually an hour long appointment that also has her partner or birth support person there as well. So they know what to expect and the best way to support her. It’s vital a woman’s support people know what is normal, especially about the expected pregnancy end symptoms. Vital for her so they don’t buy in too early and become disappointed. And vital for me so I’m not getting hourly questions overnight! This will no doubt be tricky to do via FaceTime. I’m sure it will all work out, I really hope they don’t record it 😬.

What will be harder to explain is the protocols at the hospital under Covid in level four. This woman has a baby not growing well and is expected to have an induction of labour. Basically she has weekly monitoring and scans, until it is determined that baby might be better off out than in.

For her, if this becomes the case soon, her baby will also be quite premature. She would need a day on the antenatal ward taking pills to induce her labour and once established would head to delivery suite to have her baby.

Normally her husband could be on the ward with her. And I would come when her labour had established.

Now he will have to drop her at the door. She will do all that early, scary stuff on her own. And I won’t be allowed to be there unless it all stays low key and I can take all her care back. They don’t want two midwives in the room at the moment. Usually I would run the induction or at least be there in support to help her if the hospital midwife was there too. Now in order to reduce contacts we aren’t to go as well. Same with anyone having anything done in theatre - a caesarean, an instrumental delivery or a tear repair. I would have to leave if that happens.

I get the point of this. But man do I feel for the woman - when the shit hits the fan we can’t explain things and help keep her calm. She loses the face she recognises. Our hospital midwives are busy enough getting everything ready and monitoring baby and doing all the paperwork work required in this acute situation. There is no one with time to just be with the woman except her own community midwife. It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s just that they can’t be in two places at once.

So that part of my conversation will be harder. As will telling her partner he has to go home after a hospital birth and can’t go to the ward with his new family. I remember that from last level four. Both of them crying and waving goodbye while I had my arm round the hubby.

But hey Covid’s a bitch.

So that’s me. Missing my mum and my mates already. Missing my holiday to the South Island that was scheduled for next week. It takes nine months for a midwife to schedule a holiday so there’s no replacement option I’m afraid. As each lockdown day passes I get my head around it a little more as I’m sure you all do too. Hubby has one more block of shifts before our holiday was supposed to start. He reports that the ambulance staff are quieter than normal - obviously no one is exerting themselves unnecessarily!

At least the supermarket sells dumplings.

Ps. Spare a thought for all the nurses and midwives who cancelled their planned strike action - they were asking for better pay and working conditions - because of the Covid outbreak. We aren’t getting paid any essential worker danger money. We aren’t getting paid a wage subsidy to stay home and be with our families. We are getting asked to work even when a family member has been to a location of interest. BECAUSE THERE AREN’T ENOUGH OF US!

And that my friends is due to the working conditions and pay 🙄.

Food for thought.