Lil' Ones

I saw my first delivery last night. Talk about amazing! I think I'm going to give babies a little more slack from now on, for all the crying they do. These little guys are so traumatized when they're first born. Talk about trust issues. I can totally understand if they don't trust "big people" to care for them properly. So here's the scenario: he's born and instantly dad cuts the umbilical cord. My charge nurse and I put him on a table and begin wiping all the vernix (white lotion-like stuff) from the uterus off of him. After that, I had to ram a tube down his throat to suction out the fluid he'd aspirated while in utero. Daddy had cut the cord a little too long so I got to cut the rest off on the outside of the clip. Then we palpate the skull, do our entire inspection (basically stretch his limbs all over the place) to make sure nothing's abnormal and then shove a thermometer in his butt. When we're finished measuring him, weighing him and inspecting him, he gets to go to mommy for a little while until we go back in and take him to the nursery. Once in the nursery, I gave a big shot (vit. K and Heb. B vaccination) in each leg, erythromycin 0intment in each eye, a blood glucose slice on the heel, dye on the cord and eventually a bath. Talk about traumatic.
Now, of course all of these procedures are done in the best interest of the child. But, I'd say their first 5-10 experiences in the world are not easy....so mothers out there Be Kind and patient with your little ones when they're fussing. Remember they earned their right of passage and have justification to be cranky sometimes....Oh and remind me of this story when I'm a mother!!!