A day to remember

Today we were given the opportunity to accompany public health nurses into the homes of moms who had given birth over the last short while. Helen and I were not only eager to see how they were doing and how the system worked here but also how these families lived so.... we were up at 6:00 am to join these ladies only to find out by 10:30 that due to the fact that it was raining...."all bets are off" !! No one goes out when it rains....school attendance is threatened by the rain...why??? Because one might slip and fall. OK so can I use that excuse when it snows in Calgary??? Too funny but entirely serious.
So Helen and I paddled our way back to The Rand Hospital and had an awesome day.
Upon arrival we were given permission to work with a 2nd time mom to manage and support her birth. We conspired with the couple to see how interested they were in bucking the system and keeping their baby with them for bonding and feeding right after birth. They were so interested....cute, cute couple.
We managed to keep the augmentation to a minimum, keep the staff from cutting the cord, babe went straight to Mom's tummy and stayed there, no stitches required after a shoulder dystocia,  Dad cut the cord (though why they insist on him donning sterile gloves to do that is beyond us), baby self latched 10 minutes after birth in delivery room... all unheard of here!!!
We had to battle the nurse who wanted to take baby off of the breast to bath him and then install him in the incubator. The four of us were in cahoots about it... Helen, myself, Mom and Dad and it worked for a time.....baby steps excuse the pun.
An hour after birth baby was finally hijacked by the nurse to go to the incubator to warm up because apparently mom can't do that. She was thoroughly unimpressed with the written and verbal instructions to not formula feed him. The Dad and Aunt tried to see the baby later and were kicked out by the irate nurse....see we make friends so easily !!!
We are making banana bread as a peace offering as we type!