More labor & delivery stories:)

For those of you who enjoy this kind of thing, I must tell you about another day on the labor ward. I promise I won't post too many of these on here:) I arrived and got changed into my white coat, notebook & pen in hand (for all the new words I'm learning!) and popped my head into the delivery room to see if there were any interesting cases. One of the women was on the delivery table and ready to deliver twins. That definitely caught my attention and I decided to stay and watch. Her little old mother from the village was by her side but not helping at all so I gently pushed her out of the way and went up by the woman's head to give her some advise and help her push. It was a very intense time as the first baby took almost an hour to push out. It came head first. What a surprise when the second twin came down feet first. I was horrified to see them literally twist the little body like a pretzel to deliver the shoulders and head. I can't imagine how that baby could have survived the trauma but she did. They were two identical baby girls, both in good health. I helped clean them up and dress them and put them in a little metal bed side by side. I was so bummed that I didn't have my camera. I'll take it from now on. Someone came over and looked at the babies and asked if they were boys or girls. When they heard they were girls, they turned up their noses in disgust and walked away. I stayed with the mother through the extensive & painful stitching (no anesthesia whatsoever!)After cleaning her up and getting her dressed, she lay on that uncomfortable 1/2 bed for another 30 minutes. I went out in the hall and demanded a wheelchair for her and they finally brought one. At first they told me there was no bed for her. Then they decided to take her to another floor. The poor thing was so exhausted and when we tried to get her into bed, she fainted dead away. After splashing cold water in her face a bit, she came to. There was no sheet on the bed, no blanket, no pillow. We covered her up with her coat. The old mother kept plastering my face with kisses and thanking me. It was a true pleasure to be able to help that sweet woman deliver her first babies and to see them survive a very traumatic delivery. Throughout the morning I also helped two other women, one who delivered her 4th child quite easily and quickly. She was weird; she kept covering herself up and not wanting anyone to see her! Who cares about that when you're delivering a baby?? At one point a man (intern) came into the delivery room and she freaked out. The other lady that I helped a lot ended up having a C-section at the last minute because of fetal distress. I was told that there are about 50 deliveries a day on that ward, usually 15-20 of them C-section. Even after all the deliveries I have witnessed, I still am awestruck every time at the miracle of it all.