Week 3- it never rains...

Still yawning, at 6:30 in the morning, I walked into the clinic and just about walked back out thinking I was in the wrong place. The sleepy, quiet clinic had become a zoo overnight. There were babies EVERYWHERE! All three exam beds downstairs were had new mothers with their babies in them, upstairs all the postpartum beds were full, in the delivery room, a mother had just given birth, one was pushing, and there were two more labors downstairs. "It's because it's the first week of the month," a nurse told me later, "it always happens like this." "It's cause it's a full moon," somebody else explained. Full moon, first of the month, whatever the reason, for a few days we had babies coming out our ears. Sometimes a woman would be laboring all through my shift and but still be in labor by the end. There's nothing worse than going all the way through labor with someone, and then missing the birth, so I usually stayed on into the next shift. Some days got awfully long, once I had a 23 hour and 45 minute shift. But it was worth it. The more babies that were born, the better I got at helping. And it never got old. The only time I didn't cry was when it was 3:00 in the morning, because I was way too tired too see straight let alone feel all emotional. I enjoyed getting to know the women, too. The births I enjoy most are ones where I've been there for the labor. By the end, you feel like you've known the lady for ever, and you can't wait to meet their baby. By the end of the week, my list of Babies I've Seen born had risen by 6 or 7, and I felt as if life couldn't get any better.