Well, no..not really..not exactly. Tonight was my 1st OB (Obstetrics) rotation and it was really cool. When we first got there, we had to get buzzed in by the security guard outside of the floor section -- gotta make sure no one tries to swipe a baby! When we got to the conference room, we each received a packet from the clinical instructor - "Mrs. P" about our rotation, newborn assessment and other things. That's when I found out that this rotation, I'm paired up with another student to have an evening following a L&D nurse and then the next clinical, following a NICU nurse. Hopefully, we won't be following the same nurse!
Then we took a little tour of the floor. We got to see the different rooms such as the delivery room (which were SOO nice! The rooms were huge..had huge bathrooms and showers). We even got to see a room with a jacuzzi for those that want a bathtub to either sit in, deliver in or both. I'm interested in having a water birth or atleast a tub to sit in before I deliver..but we shall see!
Then we watched 2 videos on newborn assessments and then it was off to the nursery! The babies were so cute..and little! There were 2 sets of twins that I ended up seeing during the night. A set of boy twins and a set of girl twins. We got to see "Mrs. P" do a newborn assessment and then we were paired up either with 1 or 2 other students and did our own assessments. Since "Morgan" and "Candace" are not in my clinical group, my other friend "Bianca" and I decided before school started that whatever we had to do in pairs, we would be each other's partners..and that started tonight!
The newborn assessment is really thorough..things you wouldn't even think of checking but would be really important to know! Some of the babies weren't really feeling us assessing them..and they were hungry! When we went to assess their sucking reflex, they were not happy at all to discover that what they thought was a nipple, was actually our gloved fingers! But, they were so cute. We also got to learn how to weigh them, take their measurement and change that lovely diaper full of first stool - meconium!
You know I have to cry atleast once a semester and today almost was that day! There was a first-time dad in the nursery and when his family came up, he went out to greet them and the woman who was clearly his mom was just in pure joyful tears. It's amazing how the life cycle continues and she was seeing her "baby" having his first baby. Brought tears to my eyes..almost! LOL! There was also a baby there that had literally just been born. He was breeched (entering the birth canal with his bottom or feet first, instead of the normal head first) so Mom had come in to have her abdomen externally rotated so to encourage that the baby switch positions. However, during that time, the baby became distressed and an emergency C-section was held. So emergent that the mom was put under general anesthesia (not conscious at all) and the baby delivered. Luckily, the baby was alread at 36 weeks so while he first scored a 5 on the Apgar scale (method to quickly and summarily assess the health of newborn children immediately after childbirth - different criteria given a score of 0, 1 or 2, adding all to total between 0 -10) a minute after birth, luckily he went up to an 8, 5 minutes later.
Speaking of the nursery, we were warned by our teacher and a nurse that no matter what we are discussing about in the nursery, since there are windows all around and families almost always there, just keep on smiling. Imagine looking at all these nursing students surrounding YOUR baby and all of their faces are looking grim, sad or shocking while surrounding YOUR baby! The windows are soundproof so you'll have no idea of why they are looking like that. Same goes for making faces while trying not to laugh at the baby's conehead. Just keep a smile on!
So, the first night in OB was great. I'll keep you posted on any fun things -- like a birth! OB seems cool but I can't see myself doing it, especially in postpartum. I need sick patients! And I'm sure there are different situations and I'm still interested in the NICU. But, for now, not too interested in little people that only eat, sleep and poop the whole time. Then again...add 80 years and that's the other population in the hospital! ;-)
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