Friday, August 23

OB/GYN: wk2, day 9 (wed night-thurs morning)

delivered my first BABY!!!!

all by myself, with the attending pretty much watching. i was gowned up, ready to assist, when the attending said, "alright, jacob, all yours."

i went from ho-hum, another delivery...to: Oh NO! i don't know HOW, mr. attending!! (i couldn't SAY i don't know how, b/c the pt was right there and would've freaked. i mean, c'mon, if it was your baby, would you want a 3rd yr medical student delivering your baby? answer: you DO NOT.)

so, although my heart was doing gymnastics in my chest, i tried to be as calm as i could, and thought furiously back to all those deliveries i had assisted with.

jacob! you idiot! you should've paid more attention during all those other deliveries! this is what you get for getting used to it, and not really focusing. dummy, dummy, dummy...

i coached my patient through the breathing, asked for a big push, and the baby's head popped out. i placed my hands on the head (really, really, slimy and wrinkly) and slowly guided the anterior shoulder out by bringing the baby down, then the posterior shoulder by lifting up, and the baby came away free with a gush of amniotic fluid and white stuff, crying "waaahhhh!!!!!"

the dude was slippery, and i wasn't sure how to hold him properly, so i bent my knees and thrust my pelvis under him, bringing him against me. the amniotic fluid and white stuff soaked my gown, and i felt the heat of the fluid and baby, come all over me. the smell is....not terrible, just very, very strange. stronger now that it was all over me. i felt the heat of the fluid slowly dissapate, leaving me soaked cold.

my attending clamped and cut the umbilical cord (my usual job), and i placed the baby on the mother's belly, where he was quickly cleaned and shown to the mother.

i looked down at myself.

gross.

we delivered the placenta, checked for lacerations (none), we cleaned the mother up, cleaned the baby, cleaned the room, congratulated the couple, took some pics with them, and left the room.

me: "WOW."
attending: "your first, huh?"
yeah: "yeah."
attending: "that's ok, you did a great job. we have a great future OB doc here."
me: ".....(wow) .....thanks"
me: "so, i have a question. what's the proper way to hold the baby, so he doesn't feel so slippery?"
attending then teaches me. i am enlightened. i need to pay more attention every chance i get, and not get too used to routine.

******
later on, we hear: a lady in an affiliated hospital died during delivery, due to complications. the usual light hearted atmosphere around the nurses' station becomes deathly quiet, and everyone just does their job.

many more deliveries as an assistant (not every attending is so nice or as good a teacher to let you deliver)
several cesarean sections.

at around 5 in the morning, my fellow medical students and i start acting really crazy, singing off-key, playing stupid road-trip games, and generally being dumb. the nurses playfully say that we are the most whacky medical students they've ever seen. and the worst gigglers. i indignantly say that i don't giggle, but the bossy nurse says, "WHAT?! WHAT?! you the WORST of em', jacob. never seen such giggly medical students in my life!" we roar with laughter. we ARE crazy.





yakob at 5:26 PM

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