It’s nearly 2am and I’m still wide-awake with excitement over a really great day. Quite possibly the best day I’ve had in the hospital here in india so far. Arrived to chaos and overcrowding in the labor room this morning. The busiest I’ve ever seen it! I think after being at Temeke, I’ve found the rush and the chaos to be sort of thrilling and exciting in a way. There’s so much happening and your adrenaline starts racing from the second you step foot in the room. All of the beds were filled in both of the rooms, with women waiting on benches and standing around waiting for a place to deliver. As soon as I walked in there were at least two deliveries happening at the same time with students conducting them. I immediately went over to assist one of them. The head was crowning and the young mother pushed with all of her might, the baby’s body nearly flying out of her because of the power in her efforts. I fell in love with this woman from the moment I saw her. As soon as I approached her bedside she looked up at me as if I had come to her rescue. She was so happy and thankful. Don’t think I’ve seen a mother as positive, content and joyful as she was. Anita. 20 years old, primigravida! She spoke English so I was able to communicate really well with her. She was so happy to have successfully delivered her baby! She kept saying it over and over again with sheer bliss and happiness pouring out of her expressions. What a wonderful woman. I ended up doing her suturing. Each time I would look up to make sure she was okay and to apologize for the pain, she would smile down at me in-between her legs, seeming relaxed and content with all that was going on. Rachel was there guiding me through it and providing extra support for the mum. Once I finished up her last few stitches and got her cleaned up, I walked her out into the hallway where the women wait to be transferred upstairs to the postnatal ward. Still… So happy! And grateful. As soon as I had seated her in a wheelchair (you would think that giving birth was a horrible sickness or disease!), I heard some loud noises and commotion coming from the other room. I looked through the door and right there in the entrance was a woman delivering on the floor. Kaitlin was calmly guiding the mother through it with an audience of four or five nurses standing around observing. I immediately got down on the ground with her, giddy with excitement, and started designating tasks to the different onlookers. We got a couple of aprons under her; someone brought a delivery kit and syntocin… We were all prepared to catch this baby. Once again, a young, first time mother. For GMH this was a perfect, almost completely natural delivery. And she even had her mom there providing great encouragement and assistance! Kait and I were at the mum’s lower end, while her mother sat behind her propping her up and coaching her as she pushed. She did remarkably well! Both of them did… Textbook delivery. Mum gave a few good pushes until the baby was out, there was no cord around the neck, and he started crying almost immediately. She wasn’t hooked up to oxytocin, and we kept the baby with her for as long as possible, without cutting the cord. She did beautifully, and didn’t even tear! Perineum intact! That almost never happens here. Especially with primi mothers. The doctors wouldn’t believe us when they asked. They kept on telling us to prepare for suturing, but we insisted that there was no need since she hadn’t torn! It was one of the most delightful and enjoyable deliveries I’ve participated in.
 |
| kaitlin with mom and grandmum |
I helped the mom over to a bed and got her changed into some clean dry clothes. While I was walking away I noticed there was a mother right across from her who had started pushing. I went over to her and before doing anything else I used my stethoscope to listen for the fetal heart. It was faint, irregular, and less than 100bpm. We needed to get this baby out, and fast. (I later concluded that it had to be the mercy and grace of God that I felt prompted to check for the fetal heart right at the beginning. If I had forgotten this important step I would have allowed the mother some more time to keep pushing and the baby would have likely died.)
I called Kaitlin over and asked her to get everything I needed as well as call Rachel over to assist us in what was going to be a difficult and complicated delivery. Because there were so many deliveries happening all at once, we didn’t have cotton or gauze, a bulb suction, or scissors. All fairly necessary tools for a delivery. Rachel brought over the doppler and struggled to find any heart sounds. The mother was exhausted, hardly alert, and showed no interest in pushing the baby out. She was fighting the process and we really needed her cooperation to get her little one out alive. I decided very quickly to cut an episiotomy. We aggressively encouraged her to push with all her strength. I administered the lignocaine and cut an episiotomy about 3-4cm in length. She was still unable to push the baby out. Her efforts were useless and she was so tiny that I wondered if we would ever be able to get the baby out of her. The three of us were praying like mad. Out loud and all together. Saying, “Come Lord Jesus,” over and over again. We spoke life and protection over both mom and unborn child. Kaitlin was behind the mother holding her up, Rachel was above giving firm and consistent fundal pressure and I was guarding the perineum, begging the mother to give a couple of strong pushes. We were getting desperate and starting to demand and almost shout at the mother to “PUSH!” (Well, in Hindi of course). Finally, the baby’s head was out. I clamped and cut the cord, unraveled it from around the neck and begged the mother to summon her last ounces of energy to push the remainder of the body out. I pulled quite firmly on the head and we finally had the entire baby out. Then began the frantic yet calm stimulating of the baby with lots of suctioning. He gave a couple of little cries and the heartbeat was steady. Thank you God. We continued to pray. Kaitlin carried him away and I finished up with the mom. Suturing an episiotomy is much easier than repairing a natural tear. I can sort of understand why doctors prefer to cut women as opposed to letting them stretch and potentially tear on their own.
By the time we were leaving, her son, who I named Jason was doing remarkably well. You wouldn’t have known that he had survived such a traumatic birth. By God’s incredible mercy and grace, his life was spared. I was so thankful to have been a part of his delivery and to assist Saritha in the birthing of her very first child, as traumatic as it was.
 |
| checking on the babes |
 | ||
| jason |
 |
| 13 babies! |
No comments:
Post a Comment