Live from 15 Long

It's Friday night! I have definitely never woken up at 5 a.m. and still been awake at 1 a.m. -- and still goin'. I'm definitely starting to get loopy. The best analogy I've come up with is an intercontinental plane flight. Cooped up, needing to hydrate, wanting a backrub, and willing the hours to advance. But there are four women on the labor board, and one just delivered, so it will likely be an eventful night. I'm trying to space out my snacks.

The two deliveries I've seen today have been stark contrasts. This morning, she was having a very difficult labor, unmedicated for a while, pushing like crazy and making no progress, partially because the baby was "OP" (code for "occiput posterior," better known as "sunny side up"). When they tried to flip the baby over, they felt the pulsatile cord out through the cervix ahead of the baby = prolapsed cord = obstetric emergency = crash C section. One minute we're in the labor room chillin' with the doulas, the next, residents are scrubbed and she's getting sliced. The time from detection of the cord prolapse to delivery was probably 10 minutes, and let's not forget this is surgery, people. The doctor who detected the problem never took her hand out of the woman's vagina as she got wheeled into the OR on her bed; she kept feeling the cord to monitor the fetal heartbeat.

When it was over, I cried. In the work room, not the OR, but still, my first tears of the year and certainly not my last. My classmate Chris, the midwife Susan, and the intern Melissa were all so nice about it. It just happened so fast, and I still find surgery traumatic. I had to keep telling myself that mom and baby were happy and healthy. I did like that the chief resident said to her as the emergency wheels went into motion, "You're in a very safe place." It was true -- they can totally handle that situation -- but it felt very scary to me. I saw her and her baby this evening, and they seemed so relaxed and content, no one would ever guess things had been so crazy. So that's a good reminder: People, even littles, are resilient.

So then this last woman made it look easy. She had an epidural and pushed maybe five times and poof! Here's your little boy. Her stomach went back to totally flat like immediately. She barely tore at all. I swear she could walk out of here right now.

I can't wait to sleep all day and all night tomorrow sleep sleep sleep I love sleep!