k friends, here's your warning: due to the graphic nature of the blog entry viewer discretion is advised... seriously.
lots of pre-natal checkups lately, and in the middle of them yesterday we had a young woman (only 21 years old!!) who was full term and "active", as hilary put it. we took her up to the delivery room and started prepping for labor... checking how dilated she was, getting an IV started, monitoring the baby's heart rate. less than 30 minutes later she was already pushing. it was another quick delivery: the mother never made a sound (incredible!!), the head was followed swiftly by the body, the baby had good color and was crying, everything seemed fine...
the trouble started when Mari-Tess went to remove the placenta. the umbilical cord looked really healthy (and i had actually commented to lo how pretty it was - ha yes, a beautiful umbilical cord, there is such a thing :), but it was remarkably long. just as we were all beginning to comment on the extraordinary length, the end of the cord came out with no placenta attached!! the mood of the room went from relaxed to a moment of confusion to panic and action within seconds. Mari-Tess put on the special long glove and was elbow deep in the mother before Lo and I fully appreciated the seriousness of the situation. Mari-Tess was attempting to retrieve the blood-filled, melon-sized placenta by hand (being that it was pretty much the only option in the poorly equipped clinic)... needless to say, not a pleasant experience for the exhausted mother. fortunately, within minutes Mari-Tess withdrew her arm and hand, which grasped a side of the placenta, and successful removed it from the mother. had this been a home-delivery the mother would have most likely died (which Hilary later explained to the mother). Mari-Tess spent the next several minutes examining the placenta and clearing the uterus of any fragments that remained after the unconventional after-birth. The risk of infection is extremely high if any piece of placenta is not removed and examining it after delivery is part of the routine.
Apparently what happened is very rare and that was the first (or maybe second) time it had ever happened at the clinic. Mari-Tess did an incredible job!! The mother and baby are both doing well. My hour is almost up so I have to go but I'll be blogging more about the redlight district soon (hopefully we get to go tonight!!). wishing you all well!!
Hey there! We met at the Rose's over Thanksgiving (I'm dating Nick, Ashley's cousin). Ash's mom told me you're in the Philippines, and I'm going to be in Cebu myself from 4/12-5/25 doing an ob/gyn rotation at Cebu Doctor's. Thought maybe we could arrange to meet up! weiya516@gmail.com. -Weiya Zhang
ReplyDeleteya that would great! you have to come visit the clinic. my email is Linds.wenger@gmail.com. email with details of where you are staying... you said Cebu Doctor's, do you know if you'll be working at the mother and child hospital at all, or at CCMC? the clinic is on cabreros street in basak (that is the neighborhood we're in). do you know if you'll have a phone while you're here? i can also give you our contact number and we can text (very popular here as a means of communication!). hope to see you soon! safe travels and get ready for the heat and humidity :)
ReplyDelete