ROTUNDA Hospital & Becoming Mother

Although there are many trial marriages… there is no such thing as a trial child. (Gail Sheehy)

Giving birth is compared to running a full marathon. Maybe, as I have never heard this before by anybody, but could it not be said that, the baby who is trying to be born also is running her/his own mini-marathon! I really do think that it is so. It does require so very much energy and stamina to bring it about for both the mother and the child. It was in the antenatal classes in Ireland that this fact about the marathon for the mother was told to us by our trainer, who was a midwife and a mother of six. Here is a link to the Baby University.com. Yes, there is such a thing! The baby with the mortar board on his head looks absolutely cute & clever.

The one thing that the newly-baked mama herself is in great need of more than nearly anything else is one’s own mum in fact. This is the time that she needs the most assurance and advice – that she is doing the right thing with this little totally helpless creature. Things like: what to do in times of crisis – yes, one needs one’s own mama more than any other time in one’s life! My Mum died very young, just three months before my first daughter was born, actually. My paternal Granny had died ten days before my mum, so there was a double funeral for them in Finland which I could not make because I had had the risk of miscarriage for the entire nine months and was not allowed to fly. Then the obstetrician gave me permission a week later after the funeral had been to fly over to Finland. The year after my Mom and Granny had died while I was expecting my second daughter, my younger brother was killed in a traffic accident in Finland which made it all so much tougher. I associate giving new life with death, in fact because of this.

I do not take having the girls in any way for granted because the ‘road’ to have them was paved with unbelievable obstacles all the way; even at the delivery there were never the guarantee that they and I would come out of it all in tact and alive! Not once. I gave birth to a dead baby and that ranks as the saddest of the saddest things that have happened to me, ever. I would have loved to have sons as well, but them I lost in miscarriages.

It is a funny as odd thing that one gets these repeated false labour alarms and then they reverse in the last minute and stop completely, but then when the real thing comes, it comes with a bang and there is no turning back. So when the birth got really going, I had to make my way to the Rotunda Hospital because the waters had broken – the oldest maternity hospital in the world for it was founded in 1745. Such an apt name for a maternity hospital, methinks. One goes in rather rotund and comes out lean. The delivery itself would not get going the right way so I was put into an annex in the hospital where there was a whole bunch of all the social classes in a jumbled mix and I was attached to a drip with hormone Oxytocin* – that is supposed to speed up the delivery. Sounds snobbish to talk about the ‘classes’ but it is so. Yes indeed, the class division system in Ireland is very well and alive, in every way: hospitals, housing, education – you name it!!

The mixture was a colourful circus as anything: the one mum that I do remember very clearly is this one who was just about to give birth – finally – and to be rolled into the delivery room, when her sister and mother came in with the ‘glinkety-glinkety’ sounding bags into the ward at the non-visiting hours of the day and said to the poor thing while giving a hefty slap on the back of her, even though she was already doubled-up with the sheer agony and pain:

“Have you produced anything yet? We came to celebrate!!”

She could not reply them at all. Don’t remember what the nurses said to them but out they eventually were ushered out by the staff.

When my agony finally came to an end after a day and a half – I said to himself straight after the delivery that:

‘Funny, that the music has just been put on?!’

‘Oh no’, said he, ‘it has been on the whole time!’

I had not heard a thing until the very end of the end! So – the music is not there to soothe the nerves of the mamas but the papas & the staff!

“Now the thing about having a baby –
and I can’t be the first person to have noticed this –
is that thereafter you have it.”
(Jean Kerr)

Tis for now. Riihele – in the reminiscing mode. xx

* the word ‘oxytocin’ is from the Greek word ‘oxutokia’ meaning ‘sudden delivery’ (as oxy- =sharpness and tokos = ‘childbirth’) Well, it sure caused the birthing to be sharp, don’t know so much about the ‘sudden’ as it was an age before the Baby finally popped out!!

Picture is off the net.

The GOOD LIFE: GALLSTONES

“Lack of pep is often mistaken for patience”

Kin Hubbard

There was a BBC comedy called ‘The Good Life’ – that was about two couples who were direct opposites to the other, and that is what made the comedy, comedy, and so very funny, but what I am telling now is not comedy per se, just about the Good Life that causes illnesses such as Gallstones.

The populace at large in the Western World is eating better and richer food than ever in the history of mankind. Yes, we are eating like the kings and royalty were in the olden times, every day. We were talking about this the other day with friends and I mentioned that not so long ago there were foods that were considered to be special treats for very special occasions which were consumed only ever a few times a year; what I mean is the rich fatty foods — the kind of gallstones and other illness building nosh. People used to eat simple dishes most of the time, only eating rich foods in the events of joy and merriment such as weddings, feasts and such like when the buffet table was laid out in great abundance and variety.

When I was working in a hospital in Sweden, to see if I suited and wanted to be a nurse, the thing that surprised me the most was, that when the patient had been registered in, the first person even before the doctor to meet him/her was the dietician, who would chart the eating habits, the foods eaten and diet of the said patient. And, without an exception, everybody’s eating habits and the foods they ate were drastically changed. The dietician would put together a schedule of the recommended foods for the patient with the right amounts nutrients and other health promoting factors taken into account.I changed my own eating habits and what I ate, dramatically, from that time on. Here is a link to very interesting study in WHO Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases.

Since that time I have eaten daily vast amounts of fresh fruit, berries, vegetables and eating a mixed diet of varied meats, fish at least twice to three times a week. I began to use good quality olive oil and less salt and sugar as well. Although, how pure & clean the nature where they grow, is particularly after the Chernobyl ‘accident’, another matter altogether! That nuclear incident is still affecting Europe very much. It’s rarely mentioned in the media these days but the affects and the consequences of it are very present with us still. Isn’t it rather odd that all this so-called healthy foods – fruit, vegetables, et cetera – are so very expensive everywhere, and yet, they are the foods that are promoted and advised by the health ‘experts’ for the populace to eat in huge quantities! Mind-boggling as to why then they are so costly even in the countries that produce them.

Stamina or pep, whatever one calls it, is most necessary in order to keep one’s vitality in the art of living & life as is also to have an attitude of courage, contentment and guts. I am saying this as there since a few weeks back I seemed to have been suffering from something that I just could not put my finger to. I thought, maybe, it is the tail-end of the hay fever with the last of the weed pollen before the autumn sets in? But no, not that either. I do have love/hate relationship with the nature.

The what?! I wrote about it in this entry: ’Nature of the Nature: Hay Fever’. And the reason for my lack of stamina, which is so unusual as it rarely happens – wheat sensitivity – at present suspected, but to be confirmed. I know that the Wheat Intolerance – affects among other things: the gastro-intestinal tracts = stomach and the Wheat Allergy – affects the lungs etc., and can lead to an anaphylactic shock. So I know it’s not the allergy definitely, but most likely the first mentioned. Although, to what extent I am to avoid the wheat and/or other grains. I have to sort this out and get me menu corrected.

It may be it is the nasty thingies that are put aka sprayed on wheat to make the harvest to be huge, makes it so that people do become allergic to the whole thing more than the ‘wheat‘= the grain itself. I just wonder with all these sensitivities which are so common world over nowadays that, you see. People have been eating wheat for thousands of years and now suddenly, we are getting so highly sensitive to it!

Hmm… makes me ask questions.

I think also that the pollution, the fertilizers etc., and whatever GM- Genetically Modified stuff are done to the food we eat, is causing a build-up in our bodies and hence the feeling of unwell, ill-health and so on in the populations round the world. Hmm…

Interesting.

I think that the feeling of unwell last autumn that I thought was wheat that caused it, was a kind of prelude to what was to follow in these past few months. It was the food poisoning in June this year that set the show on the road – so the say – with the most horrendous pain and agony-ivy, and then the rich & fatty meals eating out other times that put the finishing touches on this Finn’s gallstones!! There is a whole selection of them in me gallbladder apparently – the ultrasound showed them, you see. I did ask the doc doing the ultrasound what the inside view was like in me guts and he said that it was jammers with a row of pepper-sized gallstones!

Quite galling really – innit?!!

Tis for now, Rii xx

*I think that a lot of the time when there is a lack of stamina or pep, it is food related and not depression per se; so really the patients should be given allergy/intolerance tests by the dozen and then as the last resort the pills!

Some Handy Links:
Wikipedia Portal: Health

NutritionData.com online

Bloodindex – Find nutrition values for common foods

WORLD HUNGER online site

GRAY’S Anatomy or GREY’S Anatomy

GRAY’S ANATOMY
is a medical book first published in 1858,
the 20th edition of the same
was published in 1918.

The Bartleby.com edition of Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body features 1,247 vibrant engravings—many in color—from the classic 1918 publication, as well as a subject index with 13,000 entries ranging from the Antrum of Highmore to the Zonule of Zinn.

The English anatomist Henry Gray was born in 1827. He studied the development of the endocrine glands and spleen and in 1853 was appointed Lecturer on Anatomy at St. George’s Hospital Medical School in London. In 1855 he approached his colleague Dr Henry Vandyke Carter with his idea to produce an anatomy text book for medical students. His death came just 3 years after the publication of his Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical.

Henry Gray (1827–1861) was an English anatomist and surgeon and also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) at the young age of 25. In 1858 Gray published the first edition of his Anatomy, which covered 750 pages and contained 363 figures. He had the good fortune of securing the help of his friend Dr. H V Vandyke Carter, a skilled draughtsman and formerly a demonstrator of anatomy at St. George’s Hospital. Carter made the drawings from which the engravings were executed, and the success of the book was, in the first instance, undoubtedly due in no small measure to the excellence of its illustrations. This edition was dictated to Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bart, FRS, DCL. A second edition was prepared by Gray and published in 1860.

He held successively the posts of demonstrator of Anatomy, curator of the museum, and Lecturer of Anatomy at St. George’s Hospital, and was in 1861 a candidate for the post of assistant surgeon. Unfortunately, he was struck down by an attack of confluent smallpox, which he contracted while looking after a nephew who was suffering from that disease and died at the early age of thirty-four. (Wikipedia)

Gray’s Anatomy has been an international bestseller for 100 years; its appeal is not only to physicians and students, but to artists and the medically curious. As the new Introduction by Dr. Crocco states: “Every living physician today has been exposed to Gray’s Anatomy and nearly everyone has used it. It was Gray’s Anatomy that occupied most of the embryonic physician’s waking hours, whether at home or at the side of his cadaver. “There have been many imitations, but few real competitors. There have been dissection manuals and pictorial atlases brilliantly illustrated with exquisite photographs. There have been synopses of anatomy and there have been monographs on various regions of the body. However, there is only one Gray’s Anatomy. (Random House Publishers)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

GREY’S ANATOMY will be on its fourth season this autumn. Season one began airing March 27, 2005 and ended on May 22, 2005. The first season was shortened by the network to nine episodes instead of 14. (The original season finale was “Bring the Pain.”)

Meredith Grey, daughter of the once-renowned surgeon Ellis Grey, becomes an intern at the Seattle Grace Hospital. She meets fellow interns Cristina Yang, Isobel “Izzie” Stevens, and George O’Malley who will be her closest friends during the intern program. Other characters include Dr. Miranda Bailey, who is nicknamed “The Nazi” due to her “tough love” capability; Alex Karev, another intern who is not very popular with the other interns (especially Izzie); and renowned surgeons Dr. Derek Shepherd and Dr. Preston Burke.

The chief of surgery is Richard Webber, who was once more than close friends with Meredith’s mother. The season chronicles the first few months of the intern program and the day-to-day life of a surgical intern. Recurring plots include Meredith’s battle to keep her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease a secret and her relationship with Dr. Shepherd. Others include George’s infatuation with Meredith and a power struggle between Dr. Burke and Dr. Shepherd in the hospital. The season’s end introduces Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, Derek’s estranged wife. – Yes, occasionally, I do watch this series, though, I prefer ER of ‘medical series’ on television. (Wikipedia)

Nu, which one are You for, Gray’s Anatomy or Grey’s Anatomy?

Tis for now. Rii xx

PS.

I have a friend whose friend is a biology professor. Her students think Gray’s Anatomy is a book of scripts for Grey’s Anatomy!! Bright bunch, eh?

The OASIS of EIN BOKEK

”The Dead Sea has a climate which boasts year-round sunny skies and dry air with low pollution. It has less than 50mm mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 degrees Celsius.The winter average temperature is between 20 and 23 degrees Celsius. The region has weakened UV radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays), and an atmosphere characterized by a high oxygen content due to the high barometric pressure. The shore is the lowest dry place in the world. (Wikipedia)Photo: Mountain, Palms & Hotel in Ein Bokek

The Dead Sea measures 67 km (42 miles) long, 18 km (11 miles) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley. The main tributary is the Jordan River.The Dead Sea has attracted interest and visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was a place of refuge for King David, one of the world’s first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of products as diverse as balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers.Photo: Ein Gedi

”Although the medicinal indications of the water have not yet been adequately researched, this therapeutic resource is a great attraction, which gives the area advantages over other such places in Israel and the world. In addition to the medical properties of the water, the climate and atmosphere of the region have a therapeutic value of their own.The high atmospheric pressure, the highest in fact on earth, results in the highest oxygen content on earth and low ultra-violet radiation. This permits prolonged sun bathing without danger of burning on almost every day of the year.The absence of polluting contaminants makes for pure air, which eases bronchitis and bronchial conditions. On the other hand, the combination of low humidity and high evaporation contributes to accelerating the body’s metabolic processes. These climatic properties have a considerable effect on the non-specific treatment of certain diseases based on stimulation of cells and tissues while acting against unhealthy internal and external stimuli.” WikipediaPhoto: The Swimming Pool

King David, King Herod, Jesus, and John the Baptist stayed in the Dead Sea area. The prophets knew it via the infamous Sodom and Gomorra.During the Egyptian era it is said that Queen Cleopatra obtained exclusive rights to build cosmetic and pharmaceutical the area. Later on, the wily Nabateans discovered the value of bitumen extracted from the Dead Sea and needed by the Egyptians for embalming their mummies. Aristotle wrote about the remarkable waters. Photo: The Dead Sea is really this colour

Article: ‘The Race is on to save the Dead Sea’ on The Sunday Times September 3, 2006“…proposal is to carry sea water from the Gulf of Aqaba to replenish the Dead Sea, which has shrunk by a third over the past 50 years and faces total evaporation. At stake is the area’s delicate ecology and a tourist industry — that draws 100,000 Britons each year — centred on the sea’s mineral-rich waters and mud.A sequence of canals and pipelines would channel sea water down through the arid Arava valley in southern Israel and Jordan to the salt lake at the lowest point on earth, 415 metres below sea level. Action is urgently needed. Over the past 50 years the Dead Sea’s depth has fallen by 20 metres. The so-called “Red to Dead” plan is to reverse this fall, which has been so dramatic that it has left the Israeli spa resort of Ein Gedi a mile from the water’s edge.Photo:The Courtyard at the hotel

“However, Friends of the Earth warned that mixing water from the Red Sea with the unique chemical soup of the Dead Sea could create a natural catastrophe. “The Dead Sea’s mix of bromide, potash, magnesium and salt is like no other body of water on the planet,” said Bromberg. “By bringing in the marine water, this composition will be changed.There is concern about algae growth and we could see the sea change from deep blue to red and brown and the different waters could separate.” Photo: Palms in Ein Bokek (iNFO: Wikepedia) Photos: Riihele TIS FOR NOW. Rii xx HAVE A SUPER WEEKEND! © Photos: By Riihele. All rights reserved.

NATURE of The Nature: HAY FEVER

It is not that I do not love the nature, but the nature does not love me! Love unrequited and one-sided is always tough and hard to bear. How come, you may wonder? Well, the fact of the matter is that ever since having the children, the extra bonus* was getting a curlier hair – no perms needed, great saving – though I aim for the straight look, if you know what I mean. The opposite ‘effect’ was becoming very allergic to anything and everything – I mean, nearly every thing – that grows for the whole season the ‘ting’ keeps growing. That is, from the month of March until the end of September, depending on the climate in question, I am in a terrible state of sneezing, wheezing, coughing, tears running, not because of emotions, but of all the pollen. Here is The Times of London online take on the subject.

It is not pleasant, may I say. Hay fever is a dreadful ailment. I remember when I was growing-up that whenever I heard that somebody was suffering from the condition and of sinusitis, – inflamed sinus cavities – I used to think: N’ah, it’s nothing. What’s the fuzz? No big deal. No longer for years have I thought of hay fever as trivial, as it does wear one down seriously and affects your daily life in a big way.

The head is about to explode with the all that pressure on the sinuses and then all the rest of the symptoms. There is medication and that is great, but the downside of that is that they make one feel really drowsy when taken in full doses to have any effect. Then one increases the amount of coffee to stay on the feet. And voila, the spiral is going round and round in its merry way – coffee – medication – coffee – medication…

One day I was walking along the most gorgeous lakeside scenic promenade with an outstanding view any which way one looked. Lovely. Yes, but rather more unlovely for one suffering from hay fever. Not nice. At one point we had to seriously fight for our breath – the air was so thick with pollen flying around us that were coming from the alder trees above.

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

The piccie is one that my elder sister took of her rose and to one which I gave a makeover so that it looks like it is seen through the eyes of a person suffering from a severe dose of hay fever!! Sneeze to Your Health!

* Of course, them dahlings are The Massive Extra Bonus, absolutely worth all the trouble and strife,. Would not want to hand them back, would I now.