Labor and Delivery Day 1

Yesterday I arrived at the hospital before sunrise expecting to be on the post partum floor all day taking care of Mamas that had just delivered babies. I read up on everything post partum and was ready to go!! My instructor met me and let me know that there was a change in plans and I would instead be going to Labor and Delivery for the day. Immediate excitement followed 5 minutes later by being a little bit terrified. I know L&D somewhat, but I had prepared for PP all day. I quickly got over it as I met my nurse for the day and started to go over our patients.

Fast forward to 1045. We get an admission of a Mom with 2 previous term deliveries, nothing else. She is in a lot of pain and ready for her epidural. She was super dehydrated and we ended up having to call anesthesia to start the IV, and it took them 3 tries to do so {if it takes them 3 tries it was super difficult}. Anyhow, we waited 20 minutes for the epidural to work, and no luck. We called anesthesia back and they decided to bolus {put more meds} again and and see what happened 5-10 minutes later. Well, I stayed with the Mom to try to help her through contractions. Oh WAIT. I'm missing something important. Mom and Dad only speak SPANISH! I know a little Spanish, they know a little English--it was an interesting few hours! OK back to story. As anesthesia walks back into the room, Mom gives me some physical clues that she's ready to push. WOAH! She arrived at 1045 and it is 1230. We were expecting a fast delivery, but not quite that fast. The anesthesiologist grabs the nurse {because I'm not leaving the Mom} and ends up the charge nurse comes in to get some labs {we STILL hadn't been able to get blood, only an IV}. I tell the charge nurse she's acting like she wants to push and she asks me for her info {things like dilated to a 4, 38 and 3/7 weeks pregnant, 3rd baby, etc...}. Charge nurse says "I'll get these labs and then we'll check her" just as Mom starts to scream. Charge nurse then says, "why don't we check her now" and pulls back the covers. Lo and behold babies head is saying hello all the way to his ears!!!!! The charge has one sterile glove on, and I throw a clean glove on her other hand, Mom pushes, and out slides baby. HANDS DOWN ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN. I can't believed I helped with a precipitous birth {one where the Dr. isn't there} on my very first day.

I sincerely thought L&D would be all about staring at crotch all day and it is SO NOT. It is all about watching for baby's head!! My poor Mama never got to experience birth with an epidural since it never worked and she had her first two kiddos at home in another country. She took it like a champ though and only almost broke my hand once {now I know why you only give Mom two fingers to squeeze}.

Mama and baby are well, and the father seriously almost made me cry. They are the cutest sweetest little family, and we communicated enough that I knew they were going to have someone pick up their kids from school and bring them to meet their little brother {really little}. The parents thanked us and when we told them the Dr. would be there shortly the Mom said "no need now!" She was so sweet! The Dr. was upset he missed the birth. Whomever paged him during all the mayhem entered his pager number instead of the hospital, so he had no idea of where to go!!

I had to get this down tonight before I forgot all of the little details. I was on cloud 9 after yesterday, but it was also the most physically and mentally exerting shift so far. Being able to help someone through the pain of natural birth is SO REWARDING. That said, I'm excited that next week I get to spend a lot of time in the nursery with the wee newborns!! Hope everyone is having a great time....back to studying!!