Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 5228 FOCUS - SEPTEMBER 2016 Anurse for some 46 years,Ardis has seen “many drastic changes” during her long career. As a student nurse, she used to wear a blue dress with a stand up collar, a bib and an apron, “so starched it could stand up in the corner all by itself!” Now nurses wear colourful scrubs and supportive shoes. This change in dress code reflects the overall change in attitude towards hospital births. It’s more relaxed and natural in contemporary times, compared to the maternity wards of yore. Birthing babies in a hospital set- ting has really improved over the years since the old days when the father of the baby paced nervously in the waiting room, cigars in hand, glancing at the clock, wondering if it was a girl or a boy. Labour and birth all happen in the same room now, whereas the old model saw mom wheeled down the hall to a delivery room, which was more like a surgical operating theatre than a nice bed- room. The newborn is no longer whisked away to be scrubbed up and weighed and measured. The little one sleeps in the same room as the mother, not isolated in a nursery with other babies. “Nowhere else in nature are ba- bies taken away from their moth- ers,” Julie pointed out. “As soon as the baby is born, we advise skin to skin contact with the baby and the mom for the first two hours of life,” says Ardis. Dads are also advised to take their shirt off to snuggle and DRASTIC CHANGES Proud parents Matt and Danielle with their newborn son Julian, along with RN Lactation Consultant, Ardis Morrison. New Life Centre (continued from page 27) PHOTOS BY LYNN CAMPBELL