Pages

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Poor, neglected blog (and my first birth!!!)

Third year nursing school feels a lot like the early days of parenthood.  Bringing a newborn home makes for very, very long days (and nights), yet suddenly another week or month have flown by. At times, it seems to be getting through each moment as it comes.  Basically, that's what this year at school feels like, most of the time.

There are so many deadlines, so many individual items to keep track of.  Somehow they all get done on time, but its a constant scramble.  I can honestly say that I am so looking forward to finishing school, and getting back to a more 'normal' life.  Life that simply involves work and personal life. No extra scholarly papers hanging over my head, no quizzes, no writing and meeting clinical objectives, no lab exams, no exams.  There are 40 more weeks of this life to get through.  The end is starting to be in sight, yet in the meantime, the mad rush continues.

On the (very!) bright side, I assisted in my first delivery.  It was an incredible experience.  The mom already had several children, so having another baby was definitely not a new experience for her.  She didn't use any pain medication, so the stages of labour were 'textbook' to watch -- transition was so evident that even I, attending my first delivery, knew exactly what was happening. 

The baby came out with one push.  It was almost anti-climatic, given how fast it happened.  One moment she's sitting calmly and quietly, then she has a few severely painful contractions where its clear she's pushing, yet there's no evidence of baby being close to delivery, then one more push where its clear the baby is just inside and next thing, the head is out and the rest of the little body. 

It happened all so fast, that the nurse I was with delivered the baby. The resident and the medical students all ran in en-masse, but it was all over. Baby was on momma, they clamped and cut the cord, did a very basic assessment, there was no laceration so no need for any more medical interventions, and they all disappeared seemingly as quickly as they appeared.  Then momma put baby to her breast, and just like that, it was all over. Assessments continued, yes, but the room was calm and serene and peaceful once again.

Incredible.

No comments:

Post a Comment