Pelvic Floor Exercises

I began reading about Nursing Theory yesterday and today- a subject I am very interested in. For many years, nurses have attempted to legitimize the profession by trying to come to some consensus on how we should be thinking, and presenting ourselves to the health profession and the general public. I have my own theories about how we should do this, as I have outlined here-especially in my critique of evidenced-based practice and how it relates to nursing. I have been really pleased with the reading so far, although I haven’t agreed with all the concepts. One that I do agree with however is “The Rhetoric of Rupture: Nursing as a Practice With a History?” I wish I could share, but you need to subscribe to a medical journal to get the full article. The basic premise states that nurses and those that represent them have done a great disservice to the profession by continually trying to redefine the profession to appeal to young people, while discounting the accomplishments of the nurses before them. Anyone who has practiced as a nurse knows that our jobs do and always have required high levels of expertise and critical thinking that would be interesting to any contemporary woman (or man) but that the institutions within which we must practice preclude us from realizing our full potential and seek to undermine our accomplishments (and essentially give MD’s all the credit for them).

Historically, we haven’t been in a position of power or influence as a predominately female-centered profession, nor do we (mostly) sing the praises of our profession to others. The truth is, that we are trained for, and have the brain power to perform tasks that require a wide range of diverse and challenging skills and often DO perform these skills. The problem is that when we do, it’s usually in a clandestine way as it’s often “technically” ‘against doctors orders’, or we have called the MD to tell them what needs to be done, and they say “sure, go ahead”. My feeling is that the supposed ‘autonomy’ of practicing as a nurse is basically non-existant (in a corporate hospital environment anyway), and that makes nurses who were told they would have all this power to influence the health of their patients and be able to practice somewhat autonomously are being sold a bill of goods. Frustration among nurses, when they have to perform tasks against their better judgement at the direction of doctors, runs rampant. Are we willing to tell our friends and family that the only way we practice autonomy is by breaking the rules or lying? It’s no wonder that most nurses don’t encourage their daughters, sons and other family to enter in to the profession. The whole medical model needs to change. It won’t change until medicine and nursing (and perhaps other health disciplines) are taught to honor and respect one another’s knowledge base. But, nursing can’t seem to get to the first step- explaining exactly what that knowledge base is and why it’s important (Nursing Theory). How do you quantify advocacy, ethics, morals, intuition in the face of a ‘scientific’ profession that won’t even acknowledge qualitative research? I simply don’t know.

The Art of Baby Catching

Pretty soon, I will be starting school- and it can’t happen a moment too soon as far as this blog is concerned. I can’t wait to have other things to write about. Positive things. Interesting things. Thought provoking things. Sure, I’m sure I’ll write about stress, and how I am fairing with school, a job, a TA position, and three kids (one of whom is a full-fledged teenager). But, that’s what makes blogs interesting. Right?

St. Vincent Hospital was ‘extremely midwife friendly‘ and had an overall philosophy of ‘minimally invasive obstetrics.’ “The array of alternatives at St. Vincent’s, in Greenwich Village, was about as extensive as any pregnant women could want, whether you require a planned Caesarean or you want to give birth at home on your couch, it was geared for everything.”

Now Manhattan women are left scrambling to find a place to have babies where natural birth is accepted, nurtured and encouraged. It was also the ‘transfer’ hospital of choice for midwives who assist with home births. It’s closing might also put home birth midwives back-up plans in jeopardy.

As a former New Yorker I am deeply saddened by this news. What a very terrible state of affairs for the future moms of New York. I hope someone, somewhere will step up to the plate and provide similar services to what were available at St. Vincent’s.

In the article she suggests that all parents get a ‘parenting permit’ so they can have a few tools at their disposal for those tough times.

Here’s the Parenting Permit Pledge:

“1. Are you prepared to feel ignorant some of the time?
2. Are you willing to accept that, on “bad hair days,” you might want to “throw in the towel?”
3. Are you willing to get help, as needed, knowing your challenge is not about personal failure, be you a newborn mom or an aging mom?
4. Are you willing to open your heart to more joy, even if this joy is preceded by growing pains for you and your child?
5. Are you willing to open your mind, and let this child teach you?
6. Are you willing to discover who this child is, support their blooming, letting go of who you’d prefer them to be to meet your standards?
7. Are you willing to cultivate a bigger sense of humor? (You’ll need it!)
8. Are you prepared to give up taking things personally, even if it’s inconvenient?
9. Do you accept that this child is not YOUR child, but a person on loan, from a mysterious Source called Love, who you are to raise, cherish,
and support their transition into a world needing their gifts?
10. Are you willing to “light up,” when your child comes into the room, letting them know, in good times and bad, that you are behind them 100 percent, even if you don’t always understand, or don’t know how to best express this love?

My heart breaks for that little boy from Russia.

Although this article goes on to explain the finer points of the theories behind this phenomenon, and seems to be more interested in how this finding can someday help people who suffer from depression, I am just in awe of how nature has created such a beautiful mechanism to protect mothers and babies. It is still not understood why some new moms suffer from postpartum depression, and why there are varying degrees of manifestation, but women have been given the ‘gift’ of sleep deprivation in those early months to help combat the depression. It opens up a major question about how our modern way of early parenting might be thwarting this defense mechanism. For example, if a family chooses to bottle feed, mom may actually get more sleep than she normally would if she were exclusively breast feeding. Is this exacerbating her postpartum depression because she’s actually getting too much sleep? Hmm.

Modern women often complain about the sleep deprivation that comes with caring for a newborn. Perhaps if it was presented to them in another way, as a natural mechanism of self preservation, we could change attitudes and begin to tackle the very real and very serious issue of postpartum depression.