this is a little long, but i think it's worth it
i feel that i might have a teeny tiny rep among our group as a person who loves babies. i don't know where that might have come from, but i was honestly under the impression that babies and i had ended our love affair. i mean they're cute and all, but i had recently thought myself too busy and important to bother with anything small, needy and cute.
that was an incorrect belief.
i'm taking obstetrics this summer and we had our first real clinical today.
i was obviously excited for it. i assumed it would be an interesting change from med-surg. i knew that if i had to spend 7am-7pm every monday with any age group, babies are probably the one i would choose. and i figured i would enjoy it more than my psychiatric clinical because, honestly, in a babies vs. people with psychiatric illness contest there is a clear winner.
but i really didn’t expect to enjoy it nearly as much as i have so far.
i spent today in labor and delivery where i hoped to see a cesarean section (because i'd never seen one and i figured it would be new and interesting) and a vaginal birth (because it's been a long time and it would be nice to see one again). instead i got to see two cesareans in my super-sweet surgical scrubs, shoe covers, mask and hat.
my first case was a woman having a repeat c/section; her first was for a son two years ago. she was a little anxious because her last c/section came after 26-hours of labor and she didn't have fond memories of the experience, but she seemed like a nice woman. we went down to the OR and her husband waited in the waiting room while we set up. the anesthesiologist gave her an epidural, counts were done, everyone scrubbed in, we draped her and her husband came in to sit with her. we had the vacuum out just in case (because there is scar tissue after each c/section and that can make future deliveries more difficult) but it was just a precaution and we didn't have to use it.
it was, quite possibly, THE COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN.
how they worked through the layers to get to the baby.
how they pulled the baby out and then there he was - breathing and kicking and crying and alive.
it was amazing.
the only part i didn't enjoy was the actual cauterizing because it didn’t smell pleasant, but it wasn't that bad.
when we were done i didn't want to stop for the day, so i looked around for new cases. there was another c/section happening right after ours, but it was high-risk and they wanted to minimize the number of people in the room. the father of the high-risk baby and the mother who had just delivered knew each other in high school, which was an interesting coincidence.
then i got permission to participate in another c/section happening a couple of hours later, which ended up being even better than the first.
this woman was also having a repeat c/section; her first was to a son six years ago in Brazil. i was with her from admission to recovery so i got to see the whole process, including all of her pre-op work: the iv line, blood draw, shaving for the incision, history & physical, listening to the heartbeat, consent forms, everything. it probably doesn't sound that interesting but trust me, it was totally cool.
her history was particularly interesting because the scar from her first c/section was waaaay low on her abdomen - apparently that's how they do them in brazil. oh brazil.
when we were setting her up in the OR the nurse let me put in her catheter, which i appreciated because it was my first. then i watched the anesthesiologist give her both an epidural and a spinal. this second OB/GYN was great and explained everything she and her intern were doing during the procedure, so i knew exactly what was going on.
i took a few pictures for his parents as he was born and then his dad held him while we closed. he was a big baby and his dad eventually got tired, so i got to hold him.
which wouldn't be worth mentioning except that i held him down next to his mother so she could look at him, and she turned her head to see him and he opened his eyes and they looked at each other. and they touched their heads together and she spoke to him in Portuguese while he smiled at her and it was beautiful.
that was an incorrect belief.
i'm taking obstetrics this summer and we had our first real clinical today.
i was obviously excited for it. i assumed it would be an interesting change from med-surg. i knew that if i had to spend 7am-7pm every monday with any age group, babies are probably the one i would choose. and i figured i would enjoy it more than my psychiatric clinical because, honestly, in a babies vs. people with psychiatric illness contest there is a clear winner.
but i really didn’t expect to enjoy it nearly as much as i have so far.
i spent today in labor and delivery where i hoped to see a cesarean section (because i'd never seen one and i figured it would be new and interesting) and a vaginal birth (because it's been a long time and it would be nice to see one again). instead i got to see two cesareans in my super-sweet surgical scrubs, shoe covers, mask and hat.
my first case was a woman having a repeat c/section; her first was for a son two years ago. she was a little anxious because her last c/section came after 26-hours of labor and she didn't have fond memories of the experience, but she seemed like a nice woman. we went down to the OR and her husband waited in the waiting room while we set up. the anesthesiologist gave her an epidural, counts were done, everyone scrubbed in, we draped her and her husband came in to sit with her. we had the vacuum out just in case (because there is scar tissue after each c/section and that can make future deliveries more difficult) but it was just a precaution and we didn't have to use it.
it was, quite possibly, THE COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN.
how they worked through the layers to get to the baby.
how they pulled the baby out and then there he was - breathing and kicking and crying and alive.
it was amazing.
the only part i didn't enjoy was the actual cauterizing because it didn’t smell pleasant, but it wasn't that bad.
when we were done i didn't want to stop for the day, so i looked around for new cases. there was another c/section happening right after ours, but it was high-risk and they wanted to minimize the number of people in the room. the father of the high-risk baby and the mother who had just delivered knew each other in high school, which was an interesting coincidence.
then i got permission to participate in another c/section happening a couple of hours later, which ended up being even better than the first.
this woman was also having a repeat c/section; her first was to a son six years ago in Brazil. i was with her from admission to recovery so i got to see the whole process, including all of her pre-op work: the iv line, blood draw, shaving for the incision, history & physical, listening to the heartbeat, consent forms, everything. it probably doesn't sound that interesting but trust me, it was totally cool.
her history was particularly interesting because the scar from her first c/section was waaaay low on her abdomen - apparently that's how they do them in brazil. oh brazil.
when we were setting her up in the OR the nurse let me put in her catheter, which i appreciated because it was my first. then i watched the anesthesiologist give her both an epidural and a spinal. this second OB/GYN was great and explained everything she and her intern were doing during the procedure, so i knew exactly what was going on.
i took a few pictures for his parents as he was born and then his dad held him while we closed. he was a big baby and his dad eventually got tired, so i got to hold him.
which wouldn't be worth mentioning except that i held him down next to his mother so she could look at him, and she turned her head to see him and he opened his eyes and they looked at each other. and they touched their heads together and she spoke to him in Portuguese while he smiled at her and it was beautiful.