Another Birth!

I worked last night and got to deliver another baby. I'm so happy that babies are being born during my shifts! I have increased from two shifts a week to three, so that helps as well.

Interestingly, the birth last night was so similar to the two we had on Wednesday night - a first-time mom ("primie"), age 19 or 20, giving birth to a boy weighing around 3 kg, some tearing & suturing and some hemorrhaging. Crazy. So perhaps we can say I'm fairly comfortable now with that particular type of birth? I emphasize "fairly." I'm getting there. I will say though, that it is refreshing to deliver babies that have a healthy birth weight. I love that.

In the year and a half I've been at the clinic I've noticed that certain situations and complications happen in groups. It's very strange but it really does happen like that where for example, all the babies in a week will end up needing phototherapy for jaundice, or IV meds for infection, or we'll have many cases of hemorrhage, or transport to hospital for induction due to slow progress, or a slough of normal births (love those!), or premature rupture of membranes, or whatever. I guess this week is the week of primies who progress beautifully but tear and need suturing and some form of intervention for blood loss.

The suture job I did last night took me nearly two hours as it was definitely the most challenging case I've had so far. It was great experience - especially with Hilary talking me through and assisting me the entire time. I'm learning so much from her!

I have come to believe that catching the baby is actually the easy part (and the most fun). What is challenging is managing a birth appropriately, i.e. knowing when to intervene or transfer care; managing & treating blood loss; assessing tears and suturing them up properly; newborn assessment, etc... Those are the hard parts.

So I only got a few hours of sleep again last night but I can't complain. I'm having a great time. :-)