My job is never dull

This past week I was on call for my agency. Not only that by some of my foster families have my cell number. So, on Sunday night after going to our small group and the gym I was in bed and planning on reading for a few minutes before falling asleep.
That did not happen.

First my cell phone rang, then the on-call phone rang. It was Ayanna. One of my the foster parents that I work with. Ayanna has been doing foster care for awhile but recently took on the new challenge of doing mutual care (pregnant teen girls). We had recently (about 4 weeks ago) gotten our frist placement, a 15 year old girl named Sarah (not her real name). Sarah has already struggled in the home and is defiant, bosy, non compliant and manipulative. She was also 8 1/2 months pregnant. Ayanna and Sarah had been to the ER 2 or 3 times before when she thought she was in labor. I had told Ayanna not to call me again unless it was real - I didn't want to speed all the way up to the hospital again for nothing.

So, when I figured out who was calling me at 10:30pm I knew that this was the real deal. I put on shoes and a sports bra, grabbed a jacket and got in my car in grey pj pants, a t-shirt and slip flops. I had to go pick up Sarah's mom since she didn't have a car and the grandmother that did wasn't answering her phone. Once I had picker Mom up, we drove to the hospital and went straight up to Sarah's birthing room.

For the next several hours her contractions got closer and closer together until it was finally time for her to push. By this point Ayanna, Sarah, Sarah's mom, grandmother, brother, brother's girlfriend and myself were all in there. It was a new experience to say the least. Sarah hadn't wanted an epidural but after an hour of pushing with no success jumped at the chance to get one. The baby was ultimately born via cesarean early Monday morning.

I never thought I would have a job where I was not only in the delivery room for 11 hours but that I was also in the room with a foster parent and the bio family. Last time we were all together in a meeting and the county human services department Sarah and her family all got pretty heated that she was in foster care etc etc. It's a tough situation and pretty complicated case but I was pleasantly surprised at how everyone came together in the hospital. Mom and Grandma were were respectful and thankful for Ayanna and Ayanna was able to be upfront with the family about some things.

So, that was my adventure Sunday and Monday. We are still uncertain as to what will happen with Sarah and her new baby girl. I really pray that she will be able to accept help, learn how to parent and retain custody of her baby. At this point, since she was not been compliant so far it is likely that she won't get many chances before she has to move to a more structured setting and her baby is put into a separate foster home. We will hope and pray for the best and see what happens.