Baby Nurses in Winnipeg

Winnipeg is a very family-focused town. Not many people use baby nurses, but the service does exist; you just have to look for it. And search I did. At first, I made the mistake of hiring a "post-partum doula service" - soon, we had unkempt, earth-motherish types bringing over fenugreek pills and books about post-partum depression, and offering me a pedicure so I could "feel like a woman again." Then, we thankfully found a couple services which were more along the lines of what we were looking for. Last night, I asked an aide from one of these services if she had any horror stories of being on the job in Winnipeg.

She told me that one night, she was called to an apartment on Corydon Avenue (for some reason, this street is known as the "Little Italy" of Winnipeg, although there aren't many Italian businesses on it, and the gelato is overrated and artificially colored). The client, a young woman in a long black skirt, let her in, showed her the baby's room, and then left for the night.

Six hours turned to seven, and then eight. The client never came back. The aide was stuck with the baby, and she had to leave. She looked around for a phone and couldn't find one. She decided there was no choice but to knock on the neighbor's door. A sleepy-headed woman poked her head out.

"Can I please use your phone to call my office?" she pleaded. The woman asked her to wait. The aide waited patiently outside for five minutes while the woman got herself together. Finally she was let in to call the office. The office manager said that Child Protective Services would be called if the client did not show up within the hour.

Somehow, the client's parents were located and contacted. Within thirty minutes, the client returned to pay the aide. She had a lot of cash on her, because she was a hooker who had fallen asleep in her john's room.

At least she had the presence of mind to call a baby nurse!