Rural medicine, Day 3.

Today was the most exciting day so far, probably because I spent the morning in the hospital shadowing another of the doctors. The plan as of yesterday afternoon was to follow Dr. M while she rounded on her seven patients, then go back to the clinic in the afternoon. This morning, however, the plan was abruptly shifted when Dr. M ran breathlessly into the hospital and informed me that she had a patient in labor upstairs and that we needed to go, immediately.

To make a long story short, I got to watch the vaginal birth, and it was pretty fun. The mother was doing well and pushed for over an hour, though the baby didn't seem to be moving much and mom was clearly starting to get tired, so Dr. M suggested that they give her a little help with drugs to increase the force of the contractions. The patient reluctantly agreed.

Throughout the first hour I was standing in the corner yawning and trying to keep from falling asleep. After starting the new IV, however, mom-to-be woke me from my stupor with an earsplitting shriek which startled me so badly I almost fell into the sterile table. The howling continued as she pushed and grunted, but fifteen minutes later the baby's head crowned and a less than a minute after that, the baby was out and howling away with a set of lungs to match his mother's. It was quite a rush, watching everything from the foot of the bed. In spite of my great disdain for babies in general, I had to smile as I watched the nurses towel him off. He was a cute baby.

I was more interested in watching what was going on with the baby, to be honest, but I forced myself to pay attention as Dr. M delivered the placenta. That part was bloodier than the actual birth, but I thought it was still pretty cool. The mom had at least stopped screaming after the baby was out, which was good, though she was clearly wiped from the exertion and barely had the strength to look over at the incubator and watch her baby.

We left shortly after Dr. M had filed the appropriate paperwork. All in all, it was a good experience, and I will look forward to watching my next birth. I don't know that the experience was as "miraculous" as some people like to think, but it was certainly a nice break from the endless clinic visits.