... like paper in the wind.

time sure is flying over here. on the one hand, it's good. i'm almost halfway through my six month pedswards-wards-ob-ob-ccu-wards death stretch. i'm 2/3 of the way through intern year, and the days are getting longer. on the other hand, it makes me a little bit sad to think that so much time has gone by while i've been huddled beneath a thin cotton blanket in some dingy call room.

oh my gosh that sounds depressing! well, it is. i'm a little depressed. but let me tell you something great! being as this is ob month #1, i was feeling a little unsure of myself when it came to babies and getting them out of moms. for deliveries 1-7, i would be going along, doing my thing, get to about when the head came out, and some kind (or perhaps overly -controlling) attending would see the panic in my eyes (or the shoulder dystocia, the tight nuchal cord, etc) and knock me out of the way. i was fine with that, for the most part, but it wasn't really getting me where i needed to go in terms of labor skills. until one afternoon a couple of weeks ago, which went something like this.

2:00: i check patient, she is 4 cm. call attending, call for nubain. saunter off to the nursery to hang out with some babies. her first baby? this will take all day.
2:15: nurse: "can you come to her room? she wants to push." me: "no, she can't push, she's at 4!" nurse: "i just checked her. she's at least 6." me: "mmm..."
2:20: arrive in room: nurse: "she's fully dilated". me: (internally: holy sh*t! what?) out loud: "um, let's page the attending. again."
2:22: me: "oh hey, dr x? she's uh... fully." dr x "what? hold on."
2:23: attending arrives. me, gloved and panicked. baby, top of head visible. nurse, with glee: "we're having a baby!"
2:24: head out, me sitting on bed, deep breathing. i am calm.
2:24:10: me sitting on bed, holding entire baby. attending attempting to finish putting gloves on.
2:25: pharmacy tech walks in: "i brought the nubain?" looks at screaming baby, leaves.*

so that, my friends, is the story of how i delivered my first baby all by myself. thanks, little mr. jayden/ brayden/ hayden/aidan/whatever your name was... (don't worry, this isn't a violation of privacy. all of my babies are named something rhyming with maiden. though no maiden's yet, come to think of it.) and, actually, this story would repeat itself more than once that week, so should you think you know which precipitously-delivering patient i'm talking about... well... i bet you don't. the attendings are joking that i specialize in rapid labor. what can i say, lots of babies were in a rush to meet me.

it was awesome, though :)

*for those of you unfamiliar with the world of OB, that was some speedy labor.