Role Reversal...

Today I want to send a big thank you out and acknowledge all the dads and partners who are in our lives who support us moms and our kids. I think sometimes Dads get a bit of a bad reputation of not being involved or not knowing what to do when it comes to kids. In most families it is the Mom who does the majority of child care and child care decision making. My family is no different. In the usual day to day routine I am the primary caregiver, my husband works away and is home for periods of time with the kids but for the most part, it's me by myself with the kids. He usually tries to help out as much as he can with the kids when he is home and will take care of them when I pick up shifts at work in the hospital. When I am going to be gone though, I usually have outfits planned out for the kids to wear (all or at least the majority of their clothes folded and put away), try to have something pre made for meals and basically try and keep his day pretty stress free/easy.

However, this past month my husband took on the role of primary parent when my father was involved in a horse accident that resulted in him having a brain injury and being in ICU for a week. When this happened, my life kind of was thrown off it's normal balance. I was used to being a mommy first, a wife second and a daughter third. But all of a sudden I felt the need to be there as a daughter and a support to my mom and sisters. Being at the ICU meant that I couldn't have my kids/husband with me all the time and that also meant that my husband would be the one looking after the kids. My life as a mom/wife kind of was put on the back burner for a bit. Seeing as this was an unexpected event my house/kids/husband/myself were all unprepared. My clean laundry piles were their usual height (which also meant that most things weren't put away in my kids' rooms),  my fridge was on the verge of being empty (grocery shopping was in the plans for us), and activities for the kids had already been planned (my daughter was super excited to go to Parent Link as we usually did). So my husband stepped up to be the primary caregiver. The first day/night I was gone from my house for just about 24 hours. The following days for the week my dad was in ICU I would spend the entire day, leaving shortly after breakfast and staying until after supper or leaving after lunch and staying until well past my kids' bedtimes.

While this was a difficult time for me dealing with all that was going on, I was extremely thankful that my husband stepped in as the primary parent and allowed me this time with my parents and siblings. Some days were a bit more stressful than others for him- when he couldn't find where my daughter's clothes were (I knew what laundry basket they were in but he didn't!). He also took both the kids to Parent Link in our small town- which usually only has Moms and their kids attend, and my kids loved it, my daughter especially! He made meals for the kids and made sure that there was always extra for me to heat up when I got home. He cleaned the house and tried to keep everything as I normally would. He took the kids grocery shopping and even Christmas shopping (this turned out to be a bit of an adventure for them all!) This was a great lesson for both of us in regards to our family. I learned that it was ok to let someone help me out around home and with the kids and my husband learned more about what my day to day looked like and how taking care of two toddlers is a bit crazy some days!



Ahh the fascination with...Baby poop

As new parents who knew poop would or could be so important.

As nurses, one of our many roles encircles poop detective. It is one of our favorite questions to ask patients. “Have you had a bowel movement today?” Next time your in the hospital you will see, it could be a way to see how experienced a nurse is. As a new nurse one might be shy about bringing it up, but as experience and confidence bestows a nurse it will be one of the first questions of the day, they may even joke about it with you. And you can bet if you don’t give them the right answer or any ideas that there may be a problem you will get a whole slew of question. The Poop detective arrives on scene in the shape of your nurse… they may even make you save your poop so we can expect it. No wonder nurse humor at lunch hour is so dark (one may say even dark as “brown” humour…) Nonetheless a perfect bowel movement is always on the horizon and a serious goal of nurses.

Now for brand new babies poop is very important and there are lots of changes. The first poops of a newborns life are called Meconium. It’s all the digestive material that your babe has ingested in utero, the buildup of months of swallowing the amniotic fluid.  Usually it takes a day or two for your babe to rid this matter, and as nurses we are very interested in this- When? Where? How much? and maybe even, What you were wearing when this happened? May seem like a weird question, but it’s important because problems can arise quickly and can be quite serious. So be sure to know how often and what different poops are normal, what isn’t, and when to contact your health care provider.

Now I will bestow you as a parent’s part of the poop patrol! Get on the brown wagon…