Let There Be Babies!

Up until now, I've seen three live births in my life: one with an obstetrician, one with a midwife, and a c-section. Well today, I doubled that number in a matter of hours.

Today had a rocky start, as I didn't sleep much last night and woke up to shower and be ready by 7:30. Once we got to the hospital, the woman we were supposed to be meeting wasn't going to be in until 10 and then (at 10) called to say that she didn't know I was coming today and we would have to wait until Monday. I was not pleased. I didn't realize that coming around New Years would be such a problem and I've had to wait until everyone returned from vacation. (Since when do hospitals take vacations?) Needless to say, I was frustrated and emotional and questioning why I came. But they found a doctor to "show me around" before Monday and he introduced me to a bunch of the residents and then basically dropped me off in the labor and delivery room with the midwives. Was that so hard?

Delivery tables

Despite my excitement to meet the midwives, they are kind of like an exclusive club--a club that only speaks Twi, -sigh-. I resigned to just smiling and nodding and convinced myself that I was fine with silence and observation. 

After sitting for a bit listening unintelligibly to the cool kids talk in Twi, I was approached by a young man--the only male in the ward--who introduced himself as Ben, a medical student. Ben is 22 and went to high school in North Carolina, meaning his English is the best I've heard. Ben became my ticket in. 

Ben and a midwife

He told me all about the ward and patients who were currently laboring, and which would probably deliver next. After an hour or so, it was go time. A new woman was escorted into the ward in heavy labor and ready to go. She literally walked in, put her bags down, pulled her dress up, and gave birth. Boom. 1 baby down. 

I like to think I'm fairly well-versed in most aspects of the labor and delivery process, which is probably an overstatement, but I know what's going on. As the woman was giving birth, a gross, green substance was coating the baby. Though I had never seen it before, I knew it had to be meconium--basically fetal poop that is released if the baby is in distress. It's extremely dangerous because it can easily be aspirated once the baby is born and begins to breathe. And sure enough, when I asked Ben afterwards, he said that this woman's water had broke ON MONDAY and she didn't want to come in. If i was that baby, I would be distressed too. 

Once the baby was born, they had me rub and try to stimulate the baby, but with so much meconium, they needed suction and further assistance and transported him the MBU (mother-baby unit).

What a rush. 

Just as this baby was whisked off, a woman that had been laboring since I arrived moved from the labor bed to the delivery chair. 1, 2, 3, baby. These women make it look easy.

Baby 2

Finally, an hour or so later, the final baby of the day. A woman walked into the ward well into labor. And her stomach was huge! I said to Ben, "Do you think it's twins?" and he said, "I really hope not." While she was completely dilated, her water had not yet broken, so the midwives decided to rupture the membranes. As one of the midwives inserted the metal pair of forceps to break the amniotic sac, a drizzle of water appeared and I said, "Yay!" Nope. A few seconds later, WHOOSH! Fluid flew out of that woman and all over the floor and Ben's feet. Glad I was off to the side. 

The baby followed soon after, accompanied by another tidal wave that soaked Ben. So in conclusion, it wasn't twins, just a single baby in a sea of amniotic fluid. Mmm....

Ben had to leave to go change and shower, so I took this as my cue to leave as well. What a day! And I was feeling so great that I knew I could make it back to the house by myself. 

I took the tro-tro and a taxi all by myself! I could tell that the tro-tro attendant was impressed, if not just amused. Ha! And then a man in the taxi tried to convince me to pay his way, but I set him straight. Zing!

Feeling great and can't wait until I go back on Monday!

Maybe if I make more friends, I won't have to take so many selfies...

Baby count: 3 

Babies caught: 0 

Blood pressures taken: 1 (killed it) 

Abdominal examinations: 1 

Times soaked by amniotic fluid: 0

Until later, 

Allie