(Editor's note: Labour week is the week when medical students are let loose in the Delivery Suite. About 2-3 students at one time. Shadowing midwifes most of the time, but also assisting in theatre and putting on nappies!)
1. I saw 3 LSCS (Lower Segment Ceasarean Section). Unremarkable. The sections were quick but the babies were very poorly. And I saw 2 normal vaginal deliveries, which took ages.
2. 1 baby didnt cry after 1 hour and the Neonatal Team came crashing. It turns out that she has idiopathic pulmonary hypertension. Gosh.
3. I was particularly keen on knowing what's happening on the baby (refer no.2) so I stood close to Neonatal Team. My Obstetric registrar summoned me to get closer to the operation table where the mother was being stitched-up.
Registrar: Why are you standing so far away?
Me: Hmm..
SHO: (jumping in) She's probably afraid of you asking her anatomy questions!
All three: Hehehe.
Me: No, I'm not actually. I am just looking at the baby (who was resuscitated at that particular moment).
Registrar: What is this? (pointing to something glaringly obvious, and smiling!)
Me: (I knew she was just kidding) Hmm... that's a tough one! I think... hmmm.... Uterus?
SHO: Good girl. Now tell us the layers that we have to cut through to get to the baby.
Me: Easy. (And I proceeded naming all the layers with success. I was asked the same question the day before).
4. If you're doing night shift, please sit down at every chance that you have. Sitting down reduces the energy usage. I was completely shattered by 3am on the second night (in a row!)
5. Why people scream (and swear in some) so much? Back home there was hardly any sound. Yeah, yeah, its painful. But hey!
6. These days pregnant ladies are asking for pain relief earlier and earlier. It's like: on admission: "give me morphine now!" the 10 min later, " I want an epi!!!" (of course, screaming with their requests). Is everyone pain-intolerance?
7. Pre-eclampsia patients can deteriorate very fast. One minute they are fine (with just proteinuria and high BP), one minute later they are being rushed into the theatre!
8. Midwifes gossip a lot. Seriously a lot.
9. 5am toast is the best thing ever!
10. Placenta is possibly the most gross thing in the world ever! Smelly and mushy!
11. There was a case of ruptured UTERUS!!! CTG tracing was abnormal (prolonged sustained deceleration) but the mom hardly felt anything (she was on epidural). The whole delivery suite became chaotic. Emergency C Section and fortunately the baby is OK.
12. For the first time ever, I came across this capillary thingy used for immediate blood test. It is amazingly cool. Step one: take blood from patient. Step two: fill it in the capillary glass tube. Step three: go to the machine. Step four: insert the tube into the port (then the machine give a flashing green light which is so futuristic.) Step five: Wait for the result. All this in less than 2 minutes.
13. Avoid drinking beverages with caffeine. They are just gonna make you pee a lot. Easier to get dehydrated. Not good for long shift, rite?
14. I was sitting at the midwifes' station when another registrar came and inquired about her previous email sent to my whole PBL group. A list of topics were provided for which we have to choose form and prepare a presentation for Friday teaching. I was like... erkk.. can I do pre-eclampsia one? (having seen 3 complicated case of pre-eclampsia) She mentioned that the topic was taken by someone else already. Bugger! I gave it a thought for a bit (2 seconds really) and said I would do CTG (because she was staring at me waiting for a definite answer) just because i was holding a CTG print-out of a patient. That was on Tuesday afternoon. Then Wed and Thurs I had my night shifts. When do I have time to prepare the slides? (I heard you asked). EXACTLY. I hardly have any free time to prepare the slides. However came Friday, somehow I managed to do a full 15slides presentation plus printed out some interesting CTG of patients in the ward. All in all, it was a feat!
15. It all comes down to who's who. Who's the registrar oncall? Who's the SHO? The midwifes? Is there is any student midwifes? (not good- medical students are kinda neglected when there is/are student midswife(s). I managed to arrange my shifts to those I like. One particular registrar is wicked. I just love her.
PS: It took me ages to type all this out. I'm tired but otherwise still not SLEEPY. Watching tv at the same time. DINGDONG (by Alan Carr!) replaced the usual Friday Night Project. It was equally funny though. Then "the law of the playground" and then TV Heaven Telly Hell. Much fun!
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