First Case - a doozy

    My hopes of making it until Wednesday with no babies did not come to fruition.  We had a relatively stressful, yet uneventful day (meeting 34 inpatients and consulting on 10 or 12 outpatients) and had finished eating dinner with the other missionaries.  We had just changed out of our scrubs (that was our first mistake) when a messenger from the hospital told us we were needed; someone was in labor.  It was a woman we'd seen earlier in the day - due today but without any signs of labor yet.  We find out this evening that she has had eight stillbirths in the past and has walked 15 days from a distant village, timing it so she would get here on her due date.  It was clear she would need a c-section to avoid stillbirth number 9. 

    We booked the case and sent people to round up the anesthetist and OR nurses.  John went to help prep the patient while I ran to the library to grab an old version of Williams' Obstetrics... you know, just to be sure (we were cramming in the surgeons lounge and made sure to note the part where it says not to cut the baby).  Then we just did what we had to do.  It wasn't pretty (really, c-sections are never pretty), but we got that baby out and John patted it on the butt until it started to breathe.  Then we had to control the bleeding (the pictures in the atlas didn't show so much blood).  In the end, the baby, mom, John, and I all made it through the case alive with stable vital signs.  Lori dragged Sarah out of bed (well past her bedtime) and took photos while Sarah awaited the baby in the hall.  When all the dust had settled, we headed back to the house and toasted the last can of Mountain Dew (it's all Crystal Light from here on out) and savored a few precious jalapeno pringles.