Oh, Baby Baby

A major requirement for this rotation is that each student has to catch four babies. My experience with catching babies runs as deep as the one time when I helped out the midwife at a birth at the beginning of last year on my rural rotation. Unlike a lot of things in my medical training so far, like taking history and doing physical examination where we practiced over and over until we were blue in the face, we are stuck straight into it when it comes to delivering babies.

But I learned. The midwives were there to coach me on delivering the babies while coaching the mothers on breathing and pushing techniques. I realized that a major part of delivering babies, from the perspective of the midwife, med student, or doctor, is like cheer-leading, sans pom poms. When the contractions during the first stage become too painful for the mother, I offer her nitrous oxide and instruct her to breathe through each contraction. When the mother is exhausted and thinks she can’t push anymore, I follow the midwife and encourage her to push – with a calm voice. As one of the midwives put it, catching the baby in itself is the easy part. A lot of the work goes into what you do for the patient before and after the birth – anything from getting drinking water for the patient to wiping her bottom after a series of hard pushing, from helping the patient get into positions that might be a bit more comfortable to getting her warm blankets, it’s all part of the job. Of course, the medical side of things like taking her obs, documenting the progress of labor, and pain management has to be attended to constantly.

At the end of the day, seeing a healthy baby cooing in the arms of the exhausted but relieved new mother would bring a smile to anyone’s face, even if it’s two in the morning.