more babies!

Seriously, it is like an epidemic here. Today the room where the women were in advanced stages of labor was divided into several group. The first third was women who were having cesarian sections. The second were normal birth and the third were women who had preeclampsia. I watched examinations for a bit and then one of the residents taught me Leopold's four maneuvers which are used to figure out the orientation of the baby. I felt awkward touching a pregnant woman's abdomen but I got over it pretty quickly. I also asked the doctor if I could watch a cesarian section (since I saw two natural births yesterday). At 2:30 one of the women who had preeclampsia was sent to surgery and the doctor let me come along. I had to change my scrubs and go up to the surgical floor where I was instructed to watch the anesthesiologist administer a spinal block (i think?..large needle in the spine but the patient remained awake. mom feel free to correct me). I was surprised that the patient was awake for the duration of the procedure. I was told these procedures usually take 30 minutes but the patient was rather large (lots of cutting required) so it took nearly two hours. I stood by the woman's feet and had an unobscured view of the entire surgery. It was not as precise as I had anticipated..there was a lot of random cauterizing and, at one point, it looked like the surgeon and the nurse were playing tug of war with the incision in order to widen it. Also at one point I think the surgeon hit something that maybe he wasn't supposed to and a fountain of fluid spurted out of the abdominal cavity. It was quickly suctioned but I was a bit frightened by the scene. Then all of a sudden I saw a baby head and the doctor tugged a bit and voila-the largest baby I have ever seen. This newborn looked like it was two months old and was more than twice the size of the babies I saw yesterday. I then stayed and watched the surgeon close (he let a resident do the last two layers of sutures) and then it was time to go.

I really like surgery and I think it is amazing that someone can live after being ripped open and sewn up. I dont like obgyn at all. Birth freaks me out, especially here. Theres a lot of screaming and ripping and c-sections don't look like a walk in the park either. This is definitely not the medical field for me. I have never missed CHOPs neuro clinic so much.