Baby Fever

Today was my first day on Labor and Delivery and I loved every minute of it! Before I get too excited and just ramble on, let me walk you through the highlights of my day...

I got to the hospital around 6:15 in the morning which is 45 minutes too early but luckily my mentor (we will call her T) was there. I changed into the hospital scrubs because the L & D floor tries to be as sterile as possible, and T showed me around. T has worked at this hospital on the L & D floor for over 30 years so she really knows what she is talking about. I'm lucky to have someone like her take me under her wing.

We began prepping rooms for two incoming pregnant ladies. During this time a very nice nurse asked if I wanted to watch a C-Section so I ran with her to the OR and watched the procedure. It was amazing to see a baby emerge from someone's abdomen, blue and screaming, and then all of a sudden turn a nice pink color and settle down. I started to feel lightheaded during the procedure but I didn't want to be "that girl" so I put my hands on my knees and bent down as if I was looking intensely at the surgery (Veryyy tricky).

I then went with T to visit our two patients, one of which didn't speak any English so I was able to communicate briefly with her in my broken Spanish before the interpreter arrived. My other patient was a nurse, as was her husband, and they were very open to letting me help and observe.

I was able to put in 2 Foley Catheter's which turned out to be pretty easy, but exciting, and later I inserted an IV and was able to draw blood. For the rest of the day I saw 1 more C-Section and 2 more births which lasted only about 10 minutes each because the babies were so tiny!

The real exciting and most special part of my day occurred around 6 PM, an hour before my shift ended. T and I had been with the pregnant lady who was a nurse since 7 AM and she was finally ready to start pushing! Her husband and I got on either side of her and helped her push while T prepared the room. She pushed for 1 hour and 20 minutes before her baby was born and I know I shouldn't be talking but I was so sore from helping her!  When the baby was finally born I almost started crying but I didn't want to be "that girl" either so I refrained. (If it were up to me I'd be in that baby's first picture, smiling between her mom and dad, ha ha).

The baby was then cleaned, suctioned (they have a surprising amount of gunk in their throat from the amniotic fluid) and swaddled. It was so cool to be a part of that entire experience. I know this was my first day and my first rotation but I can't see myself ever getting tired of helping/watching babies be born. I can't wait until tomorrow, but for now, I'm exhausted!