U-TEACH (Final)

At 7am the next day (Friday), I stopped by to see my U-TEACH mom. Unfortunately, she was painfully frustrated because she was still only dilated 3cm, though her contractions were more frequent and regular. She convinced me to go to class, where I explained to everyone who knew about U-TEACH that she had not yet delivered. I had a solid block of class from 8-3, but at around 2:30pm, I got a message that she had just started pushing. I ducked out of my elective and headed over to L&D.

When I got there, there was a lot of hustle and bustle. The nurses were busy putting on monitors, and the mother was getting contractions every few minutes. I was put on right leg duty. With an epidural, the patient has to stay in bed. However, it helps the patient push if she is in a squatting position, so we try to hold her legs up to simulate squatting. She was doing well on her pushing, 10 seconds duration for three times with each contraction. In between contractions, she was getting rest, talking a bit, and taking ice chips.

This went on for several hours. It was painful to watch. Every time they yelled push, I could feel myself pushing too. The nurses tried being cheerleaders and drill sergeants, but she was just not progressing very quickly. Part of it was that the epidural anesthesia made it hard for her to feel her perineum. It was painful to watch; you could really tell she was putting everything into it.

After nearly three hours, the anesthesiologist came to present her options. He did a very good job with it. He said that she was doing a great job, slowly, but progressing, and that she could continue pushing. He also said an option was a C-section, but he did not think that was appropriate at the time. That left an assist, either by suction or forceps. In this case, the mother would be doing all the work; she would be pushing during the contractions, but the obstetrician would use either a suction or forceps to help guide the baby out. The mother opted for the forceps assist.

At that point, the decision was made to bring her into an OR. This was precautionary; they didn't expect anything to happen, but they wanted to be ready for an emergency C-section if necessary. While this was naturally a little scary, things transitioned smoothly. The husband and I geared up in the big blue bunny suits, complete with cap and shoe covers. In the OR, things moved incredibly quickly. Everyone seemed to be doing something. People materialized out of nowhere, and there were over 10 people in the room, with the anesthesiologist and resident, the pediatricians, the obstetrician, the nurses. I tried my best not to get in anyone's way while trying to see what was going on. I helped comfort the mother and made sure the father was doing okay (since he was apprehensive about blood).

The anesthesiologist told me to go see when the baby was just crowning. It is an amazing sight. I can't really describe it, but after the 30 or so hours since the first contraction, everyone was waiting for this moment. The baby squeezed out, amazingly beautiful, and once he came out, half a dozen things happened. Someone clamped the umbilical cord, caught and measured the placenta, puffed something in the baby's mouth, and handed the baby off to the pediatricians. When the baby boy started bawling, I could feel everyone in the room breathe a sigh of relief and gratitude. The father did not want to cut the cord, so he asked me to do it. It was both really something and not a big deal (especially after anatomy). I was not sure if it was my place to do it, but it was their request. The pediatricians then cleaned off the baby, checked him from head to toe, and handed him back to the parents.

The mother began sobbing and talking to the baby, so incredibly happy to have undergone this ordeal successfully. It was one of the happiest moments I've felt. I wouldn't have given up this experience for anything. The medical team dispersed as quickly as they had appeared, and we retired back to the delivery room. Both the mother and baby are healthy and doing well. I've been visiting them nearly every day since, and I think this has been one of the best opportunities I've had.