"PUSH!" I hear from outside the room.
I run over to the board only to see it's my patient and she's at 10cm.
I open the door to the room to find my patient already pushing, all the tools needed meticulously splayed out on the green blanketed table.
"We have a gown for you, here. It's your turn."
I gown up quickly, put on my white sterile gloves, and gently make my way over to the patient.
She has her feet in the stirrups, legs fallen to the side and a bright light shining on the exposed area. No baby yet.
She begins to scrunch her face and I see the numbers on the nearby monitor rising. A contraction.
"PUUUUUUUUUSHH!" Yells the nurse. We all count "1, 2, 3, 4"... all the way to ten, repeat it another two times and as the contraction eases of the patient has a chance to relax. Her husband clutches her hand excitedly as the moment of getting to meet their first child draws ever closer.
Another contraction. As she pushes again I can see some tiny tufts of hair for a brief moment and then they are gone. With every contraction that goes by, I see a little more hair and a little more of the baby's head, until finally the head no longer disappears back into the vaginal canal and stays permanently visible in between contractions. I hold one hand against my patient to help support her delicate tissues and the fingers on the other hand along the baby's head. For every contraction, with the guidance of my staff, I applied gentle pressure to help control the speed at which the baby was coming out. With one big push the whole head is out. I quickly feel around the neck for a loop of umbilical cord. Thankfully there is none. As she pushes again the baby rotates sideways as they always do and with one final push the baby comes rushing out into my hands. With the support of my staff we ease this new baby onto my patient who is now a first time mom.
"Congratulations! It's a girl"
She begins to cry and her husband eagerly cuts the umbilical cord after we have clamped it. The baby finally begins to cry forcefully and goes from a shade of worrisome blue to rosy pink; a new little human starting it's first day in our great big world.
I run over to the board only to see it's my patient and she's at 10cm.
I open the door to the room to find my patient already pushing, all the tools needed meticulously splayed out on the green blanketed table.
"We have a gown for you, here. It's your turn."
I gown up quickly, put on my white sterile gloves, and gently make my way over to the patient.
She has her feet in the stirrups, legs fallen to the side and a bright light shining on the exposed area. No baby yet.
She begins to scrunch her face and I see the numbers on the nearby monitor rising. A contraction.
"PUUUUUUUUUSHH!" Yells the nurse. We all count "1, 2, 3, 4"... all the way to ten, repeat it another two times and as the contraction eases of the patient has a chance to relax. Her husband clutches her hand excitedly as the moment of getting to meet their first child draws ever closer.
Another contraction. As she pushes again I can see some tiny tufts of hair for a brief moment and then they are gone. With every contraction that goes by, I see a little more hair and a little more of the baby's head, until finally the head no longer disappears back into the vaginal canal and stays permanently visible in between contractions. I hold one hand against my patient to help support her delicate tissues and the fingers on the other hand along the baby's head. For every contraction, with the guidance of my staff, I applied gentle pressure to help control the speed at which the baby was coming out. With one big push the whole head is out. I quickly feel around the neck for a loop of umbilical cord. Thankfully there is none. As she pushes again the baby rotates sideways as they always do and with one final push the baby comes rushing out into my hands. With the support of my staff we ease this new baby onto my patient who is now a first time mom.
"Congratulations! It's a girl"
She begins to cry and her husband eagerly cuts the umbilical cord after we have clamped it. The baby finally begins to cry forcefully and goes from a shade of worrisome blue to rosy pink; a new little human starting it's first day in our great big world.
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