"...to look impressive and go out in heels.
I feel for you.
Killing yourself to find a man that'll kill for you."
A full week of Obstetrics under the proverbial belt...and a few housekeeping items before unloading the crates and hippos from a week's worth of shipments.
1. New Format (sub-headers), New Version :: v2point1
(My efforts to avoid the Walls of Text I tend to write. No need to build houses here.)
2. Instaplug for the Instagram :: hippos and crates and keepsakes (link)
Well let's dive in. Into something where I don't mind if I sink or swim.
crate --
Our OB/GYN Clerkship is split into two equal parts and as aforementioned I have only really seen the Obstetrics side of the equation. Accordingly, here are the high-yield Crates.
} SVD - Spontaneous Vaginal Delivery
Is this even medical or isn't this the most natural and magnificently primordial gift humans (note: women) possess?
Oh sorry. I almost drifted into Hippo territory there.
Despite the fact that humans have been laboring and delivering babies for thousands of years there is a clinically 'correct' way to deliver that child. And in the end all we are really is facilitators.
For an SVD our main goal is limit trauma and discomfort for the patient...or patients rather as, at least up until that infant is out, we are responsible for the health of both Mommy and Baby. We are there to insure that the delivery goes smoothly by limiting the loss of blood, providing analgesia when requested/indicated, and ameliorating physical trauma to the perineum and surrounding areas.
A second goal is to be ready for a Cesarean Section in case emergent delivery of the infant is deemed necessary. The SVD Crate is pretty much the backbone of Obstetrics and, in a way, life itself.
"...and if you need a friend to pick you up, I'll be around.
And we can ride with the windows down, the music loud."
}} CS - Cesarean Section or 'C-Section'
And here is why OB/GYN is considered a surgical field. (Awesome.)
I've had the greatest privilege of having multiple opportunities to 'scrub-in' on a couple of CS's. It's something to behold as the patient is awake for the entire procedure -- though the bottom half of their bodies is essentially paralyzed for the duration. So yes, one can have a full conversation with the patient as their abdomen is at its greatest exposure. (Awesome #2).
There are a handful of starting incisions that can be used but the one with the least complications is also the one that is most esthetically pleasing: the Low Transverse C-Section (LTCS).
Through the skin...then the subcutaneous fat and fascia...then the abdominal muscles...and finally we push the bladder down to fully visualize the uterus in all its glowing and marvelously pregnant glory. This is the most exciting time because you are one uterine incision away from a new life and you can not wait to welcome that little dude or dudette into the world.
Once baby is born surgical skills are employed once again, as all the incisions made must now be sutured layer by layer. We go out the same way we go in and though our primary aim was to deliver Baby, of course we will try to make sure the patient heals properly and looks no worse for wear afterwards.
In a way, OB/GYNs are quite ninja-like in their ability to deliver this way with minimal scarring. The procedures I've seen have been well under an hour.
There is some mean shuriken ninjutsu going on in this Crate.
hippo --
} There is probably next to nothing more beautiful than the miracle of life and childbirth.
When I participated in my first delivery it was as if my heart and mind was about to simultaneously implode into a supernova of gravity-tearing awe and amazement. I could have vomited out Hippos for days with the sheer amount and variety of emotions sprinting across my track and field thoughts.
The possibilities. The potential. The intangibles. The Hippos.
This child in my hands. She/He can be anything...can do everything...is capable of changing the world.
What will She/He become?
What accomplishments will bring tears to their parent's eyes?
When will they feel the piercing pain of heartbreak?
What kind of music will She/He like?
What will be the first thing to make them laugh?
So many questions and far too many potential answers. The best multiple-choice exam ever created.
I find it so appropriate to be starting with OB/GYN as my first rotation. The birth of my Clinical career starts with the one Clerkship that allows me the opportunity to not only do, but experience and feel what it is like to say:
"Hi there Baby, welcome to the world. I know it won't always be warm and safe like what you're used to. I know it won't always be happy and pretty with sunshine and gumdrops. But I promise that there is hope and there is beauty and that more than anything you are and will be loved, because if nothing else my heart will always go out to you."
"no need to fix what God already put his paintbrush on."
}} If nothing else. That first child's greatest power may be the ability to turn boys into men and men into fathers.
First Impressions.
I've expressed the sentiment before, as humans we generalize and idealize and I believe it should be acknowledged and accepted so that we can embrace it in the best way possible.
Before a delivery we always meet with the, at times imminently, soon-to-be family. Hippos aren't meant to be sugar-coated (in fact I imagine they would be quite aggravated if doused with sucrose) so I'll just say it: on more than one occasion the thought and guilty judgement has crossed my mind that someone would not make a good father.
On more than one occasion, however, I have witnessed transformations that would put Optimus Prime to shame and have always welcomed the sentiment of being proven wrong in my appraisals.
One gentleman was very rough around the edges both in appearance and demeanor. He was a boy in my eyes and I thought it to be confirmed as he was, at that point, just a 'baby daddy'. Little to no interaction with the expectant mother and he appeared more disinterested than I am when I attempt (key: "attempt") to do mathematical calculations (and that's saying a lot).
During the delivery I lost track of where he was with the excitement and commotion and once everything had settled down I wondered where he was as he wasn't immediately within my line of sight. Again, with all my perfect human imperfections I began to fabricate the sentiment that I wasn't surprised at all -- of course he wasn't present for the priceless birth of his child. He doesn't care.
But on the way out I pushed aside the curtain that separates the neonatal area from the main maternal area of the hospital room. With just-barely-audible tones there he was. I didn't see no baby daddy though, there was a father next to that newborn baby. Quivering with emotions I can't even imagine and having his first conversation with his daughter. I couldn't help but listen to him pledging his life to her and her mother.
Where do you think I got the inspiration for my Baby Welcome above?
I could have died right there. Died.
I went to visit the family later that day and walked in on Baby in Mommy's arms with Daddy sitting on the bed and the three of them sharing their first laugh as a family.
Proven wrong. Thank you. Hippo, hippo, hippo.
"you keep falling victim cause you're insecure.
and when I tell you that you're beautiful you can't be sure.
so all you see is what you lacking, not what you packing."
"take it from a man that loves what you got.
and baby you're a star, don't let 'em tell you you're not."
----
So what if we have Crooked Smiles?
I have to agree with my brotha J. Cole...
"we ain't picture perfect but we worth the picture still."
word.
hippo.
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