Baby Mania!

Call Day 3....my goodness! We start call at 7ish by meeting with the doc that was on call the previous day. That doc will brief my doc and I on the patients that are currently still on the floor, and then we'll "round", which is going to see each of these patients. We started at 8...at 8:20, we were prepping an OR for a c section. This lady had been on Pitocin (a drug that induces labor) for over 24 hours and wasn't making any progress..."failed induction" is indication for c section. She was given the option to wait a little while longer, but she had been in the hospital 4 days already, and wasn't allowed to eat or drink, so naturally...she opted for the c section (I would've too...I bet she was starving!) All went well during the surgery. If you've read the previous post, I did all of the same things during this procedure...helping with the entire procedure, but my favorite...manually pushing the baby out of the mother, and then helping to suture and staple to end the event. This was baby boy #1 :)

There was another lady that was similar to this, being on the pitocin for 24+ hours with no progress. However, her situation was complicated more than usual. She had something called preeclampsia, in which she had elevated blood pressure and protein in her urine. She was on medicine for it during her labor, however, the primary treatment for preeclampsia is delivery. On top of this complication, she was only 28 weeks. Babies are considered "viable" at 24 weeks, so that wasn't the concern, however, it was very apparent that the baby would have to spend quality time in the NICU after birth.....so c section it was. However, there was another section for a different doc going on, so we waited (being Sunday, there weren't as many nurses to run multiple rooms).

While waiting, we thought we could round and see some patients. We had 17 total, so I started at the top of the list, while my doc started at the bottom. I had seen two patients when my phone rang. It was my doc telling me to rush downstairs. There was a girl that came into triage ready to drop her baby in the floor....literally. I guess she just decided not to come to the hospital until the VERY LAST MINUTE. Being this close to delivering, she can't have pain meds (epidural) because it will go straight to the baby...which she wasn't too happy to hear. I rushed to get my gown and gloves on while she was screaming that she needed to push. I stood by my doc as the mom began her pushing. It definitely didn't take long...and there was the head. To my surprise, my doc said..."alright...get in here!!"...WHAT THE HECK! :) I thought to myself..."um....are you saying you're going to let me deliver this baby!?!?!?!" And yes...that's exactly what he meant! He coached me every step of the way, and kept his hands over mine, which were on the baby. I had the baby's head, then he taught me how to pull down, then back up to release the shoulders...and that's it, OUT COMES BABY! I can't explain how amazing it was! My first vaginal delivery...just something I wish everyone could experience...to God be the glory for such an amazing experience!!! Baby boy #2 was here for today

Ok...so after that excitement, I went back upstairs to see more patients. I saw one patient and headed back to the nurses station to write her progress note, and just as I put my pen to the paper to start the note...the phone rang again. It was my doc telling me that another similar lady just came into triage. He wanted me to go see her, do a history and physical, and then stay with her! She was already 6cm and it was her 3rd delivery, so we knew it wouldn't take long. So, I put up the chart I'm working on and race back downstairs. My patient wasn't hard to find my patient, just had to follow the high pitched screaming into triage, and there she was. Just like the first girl, this lady was too far into labor and was progressing incredibly too quickly to get any pain meds. It wasn't long before we had her in a L&D room and her fiance and their two little girls came back to be with her. She had a 5 year old and a 2 year old that were incredibly adorable! We turned cartoons on for them to watch, but all the wanted was to see their new baby brother :) Again, I got to deliver this baby and the placenta, with the supervision and guidance of my attending of course. I'm not sure the excitement of that could possibly ever get old :) So this was baby boy #3 for the day.

Ok, so after ALL that...we went back to the lady with preeclampsia and got ready for her c section. Everything went well through the surgery, all the cut, suction, push, suture, staple normal activity. The amazing thing was how little the baby was. Being only 28 weeks, she was a tiny little thing, but was truly beautiful. They took her straight to the NICU, so I'm not sure how much she weighed, but you could tell she was quite small...I would guess in the 5 pound range, give or take.

Well, that was the extent of my daily excitement this past Sunday, which was actually GREAT! There was a little game on tv this past Sunday...the SuperBowl as you may know..and luckily all the babies were out and I was able to chill out and watch the entire game.

The only other call I had was around 12:45 we had a woman come in with her 8th pregnancy (to deliver her 6th child), also in full labor. However, she was not progressing as quickly as the other ladies did. But, I went to see her, did my usual history and physical for her, then called my doc to tell him the deal. Nothing was worrisome at the time being, so they were going to admit her, and I went back to my room to go to sleep. Around 3:30, my doc called just to update me on her progress. She had made it to 7cm, so he was letting me know, in case she shot up to 10 and was ready to go! I drifted back off to sleep and woke up at 6:15. She decided to wait it out, so we passed her off to the next doctor that was coming on at 7am.

Well, that was it...on call day number 3 complete! I LOVE being around all these babies...I can't believe my life!