Labor and Delivery

Yesterday was my second OB clinical and I got to see seven births! One was a cesarean and the other were vaginal. I got to work with the "Trans Nurse" who basically comes in at the last minute and works on the baby and transports them either to the nursery or right back to the mom. It was actually pretty fun. We would go into the room just as the Mom was starting to push and as soon as the baby was born the doctor would hand the nurse the baby and we'd start working on it under the warmer. Each time the Trans Nurse would say, "Happy Birthday!" And I thought, "Whoa, that's crazy...it IS their ACTUAL birthday!" We would wipe the baby down, measure and weigh it, put the Erythromycin in it's eyes and I got to give a few of the babies their first shot! I also got to hand some of the babies to their mom for the first time, which was pretty cool.

At some point during my day I took a baby up to the nursery and hung out up there for a little while. I fed and burped and changed a couple babies. I also held one for a little while, while it was sleeping. I can understand why people want to be OB nurses. It just felt good to hold the baby. I didn't think the baby was particularly cute or anything, it just felt happy. Maybe someday if I ever have kids I'd consider working in Labor and Delivery.

If it were always happy births and just holding babies it would be great. But even yesterday, I was freaked out when a little tiny baby was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck FOUR times and because of the meconium had to be intubated. Luckily everything was okay with the baby, but it was scary there for a minute! That particular baby as soon as she pinked up was so perfect and beautiful and her parents named her Guilliana Gabrielle. I thought that was a pretty name.

One thing I learned was the difference between a natural birth and an epidural. Hello, prolapsed rectum! That was pretty much all it took for me to become a believer. That poor mom was actually planning on getting an epidural but got to the hospital too late. The mom's who had an epidural were so much happier and in way less pain. Oh, and also the more babies the mom had already had, the quicker their babies were born....and with rounder heads. All in all it was a pretty educational day.