Labor & Delivery

It is about 2:30am on a very early Thursday morning. We've just admitted two patients---one who will deliver sometime during the day today and the other sometime before morning rounds (or so we hope). I've had 3 C-sections, and 3 normal vaginal deliveries today. I am on call for L&D.

Most people would take their "down time" and use it towards taking a short nap. I am not fortunate enough to have this work---I wake up groggier and more upset than I was before the 40 minutes or so I got to close my eyes. So instead I practice tying knots, I read my email, I write a blog. Sometimes I just walk up and down the halls to keep the blood moving. Don't get me wrong---L&D is exciting and I am really liking the deliveries.....but during the down time there really isn't much to do. Unlike trauma call, where someone always needed stitches or someone needed an official reading of a CT scan---on OB if they aren't pushing or they don't need a cervix check (they get checked every 2hrs!), then you've got nothing to do.

I mentioned my first delivery was last week---it was pretty amazing, gory, but amazing. I remember seeing the baby and thinking "OH MY GOD!! THIS ONE IS DEAD!!" and then wondering why no one else was freaking out. That's when it occurred to me that all babies look sorta white when first delivered. Now, I feel my heart rate go up after each delivery, but quickly assess to see if anyone else is worried before I react (say by calling a crash cart...). The mom who I delivered was 21, and this was her first child. Unfortunately she had something called a "4th degree" tare, meaning she tore quite a bit (I wont get into the specifics). Lets just say she'll have life long problems. It was upsetting to see but even more unfortunate--they are hard to avoid.

Will I become an OB doc? I don't have a clear answer to that---It is pretty cool to see happy moms and dads after a delivery (although to be honest, people aren't jumping up & down for joy like I expected them to....so instead, I sorta do that for them when they are lacking), but I am not so sure I want to limit myself to taking care of only women.....

and so the internal debate continues........