Delivering Babies

Had OB call last night. So I was the guy for delivering those babies. Arrived on the L&D floor and saw that there were 5 laboring patients. For the record, thats not a small load. Not super busy, not crazy, but certainly enough to convince me that I was going to be up all night. Because if you have five, you can probably count on getting one or two more that come in during the night. And the five patients were a mix of primes and multis, meaning that some were having their first, some their second or third time around. This also means that some are going to go faster than others... so I am expecting a night of steady deliveries. Between that, outpatients, and progress notes I was ready to rock and roll.

Well, as per the theme of L&D this is exactly how it didn't go. Three of the mothers progressed pretty rapidly, and the three of them gave birth to three perfect kiddos in a matter of 18 minutes. Now I am pretty good, but I am not good enough to be in three places at once. So I miss out on two of them.

After that the night was actually pretty slow. The other two mothers took their time, and there wasn't a single outpatient until 6 AM. I got plenty of sleep, and even got to deliver a few babys. Always a good time. I will be honest though, I don't think I am ever going to get to a point where deliveries don't make me nervous. Its just not a smooth process. There is pushing, fluids, and then screaming, contractions... you get the idea.

AND, bonus, because I am doing ER this month, and you aren't allowed to see new patients after a 24 hour call, I got to head home "early"... that being 16 hours later than any reasonable person, and 12 hours later than every other high liability performance intense job does (pilot, trucker, heavy machinery, captain...). But I digress, the point is that I had this whole day post call, AND I had plenty of sleep. Its like a bonus day. So I am pumped. Now if only the weather was nice I could mow the lawn :)