Thursday, August 22

OB/GYN: wk2, day 7 (monday night)

2 more deliveries. i'm getting used to the pregnancies now. not as scared as i was before.

i'm realizing how much variability there is to each woman.
the length of time pushing varies greatly, especially depending on what number child it is. first timers (primaparas) generally take a LONG time pushing, while multiparas (had kids b4) can sometimes shoot that baby right out.

the trauma to the woman also varies a LOT. you have the woman who have almost NO trauma (rare). then you have the ones with small vagina tears (very common), called "streaks" and "tracks" that require small stitches (gut, to be absorbed). then you have episiotomies, which are cuts along the perinium (area between genitalia and anus), to make it easier for the baby to come out. (this is actually not as scary as it sounds. they get a local anesthetic on TOP of the epidural, so the women feel nothing. the attendings sew this right back up after, and the women are no worse for the action).

one time, there was so much trauma, and it was so difficult to get the child out, that on top of the episiotomy and mulitple tears in the vagina, the anal sphincter was torn! now, i don't know if that was the attending that did the episiotomy that got a little too ambitious, or whether that was the baby tearing the mom up, but that was really disturbing, to see the anal sphincter like that. which was basically sown up, and apparently no big deal.

the epidural is the most wonderful thing ever invented. all the women are scared of it, of course. who wants a needle into their back, and then have a small tube inserted into their spine? yet because of this, screaming mothers-to-be become docile lambs, and prenancy is made infinitely easier.

after one of the pregnancies, one woman actually said, "you know, this(labor and delivery) was actually not that bad." that is the unlikeliest thing to ever hear, since many women describe child-bearing as the most painful thing they've EVER experienced in their lives. but it's because of the epidural that that woman was able to say that. if I were a mother-to-be, i would want an epidural.

so, i am actually doing more than watching now. i've become bold enough to offer my assistance to the attendings, which means that i clamp the umbilical cord, assist with the suturing, etc, etc. i am not yet experienced enough to catch babies. i am getting over my fear of delivery.

****
one female asian attending, whom i was assisting, suddenly turns to me and says, "you know, i like your name. Jacob is a classy name."

i was so taken aback at this unexpected comment that i didn't say anything, and she eventually turned back to what she was doing. then, i recovered, and i wanted to LAUGH. if only she knew. obviously, she doesn't know that Jacob means, "deceiver." HAHAHA. the irony... "classy name," huh?


yakob at 1:20 PM

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