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Last Day in Theatres
Feb. 22nd, 2013 06:52 pmToday was my last day in theatres, and it was a busy one. We only had one elective case, and it was an unusual one- a lady with placenta accreta, which is when the placenta is overly adhered to the wall of the uterus. Because of this, it makes natural birth very difficult, as the placenta won't come away afterwards and can cause excessive bleeding (because the uterus can't contract down to stem the bleeding) and a host of other issues. Luckily, this lady had it picked up at one of her routine scans, so she was well prepared- as was the theatre team.
My job for the day was to basically be her midwife, just a 'hands off' midwife. So I sat with her and her husband, talked to them, explained the jargon for them, made sure they were ok... that kind of thing. I wasn't able to do much practical stuff as it was all well above my sphere of competence as a second year, but it was fascinating to watch. The surgery was done under general anaesthetic (as there was a real risk of serious complications and/or and emergency hysterectomy being performed) so I couldn't even tend to the baby after the birth, as they were also affected by the anaesthetic and had to be cared for by a paediatrician.
I did get to do some of the work in recovery, once the lady was awake again. And after the baby was revived (but before he was released from theatre) I got to feed him his first bottle (in accordance with his parent's wishes, I hasten to add- we never give formula milk without parental consent unless it's life-and-death and the parents aren't on hand to make the decision. >_>) He was a very cute baby. Which is good, because his Dad looked a lot like Willem Defoe.
I'm going to miss working in theatres. Next week I am on the midwife led maternity unit up at the hospital, which will be nice too (although the hours are longer). Still... I've had fun working with the theatre team, and I'm kind of sorry that I only got a week with them.
In Other News:
My plan for tomorrow goes as follows:
-Sleep lots.
-Buy fruit from the market for the week.
-Buy yoghurt and weekly stir-fry supplies from the supermarket.
-Watch more Dexter (I'm finally on Season 6)
-Sleep more.
-Talk to Rory (hopefully).
-Play some Rift and Champions Online.
-Sleeeeeeeep.
On Sunday, I might be going to a car boot sale. Depends on weather or not I wake up. I might just sleep until my next shift on Wednesday, at this rate.
My job for the day was to basically be her midwife, just a 'hands off' midwife. So I sat with her and her husband, talked to them, explained the jargon for them, made sure they were ok... that kind of thing. I wasn't able to do much practical stuff as it was all well above my sphere of competence as a second year, but it was fascinating to watch. The surgery was done under general anaesthetic (as there was a real risk of serious complications and/or and emergency hysterectomy being performed) so I couldn't even tend to the baby after the birth, as they were also affected by the anaesthetic and had to be cared for by a paediatrician.
I did get to do some of the work in recovery, once the lady was awake again. And after the baby was revived (but before he was released from theatre) I got to feed him his first bottle (in accordance with his parent's wishes, I hasten to add- we never give formula milk without parental consent unless it's life-and-death and the parents aren't on hand to make the decision. >_>) He was a very cute baby. Which is good, because his Dad looked a lot like Willem Defoe.
I'm going to miss working in theatres. Next week I am on the midwife led maternity unit up at the hospital, which will be nice too (although the hours are longer). Still... I've had fun working with the theatre team, and I'm kind of sorry that I only got a week with them.
In Other News:
My plan for tomorrow goes as follows:
-Sleep lots.
-Buy fruit from the market for the week.
-Buy yoghurt and weekly stir-fry supplies from the supermarket.
-Watch more Dexter (I'm finally on Season 6)
-Sleep more.
-Talk to Rory (hopefully).
-Play some Rift and Champions Online.
-Sleeeeeeeep.
On Sunday, I might be going to a car boot sale. Depends on weather or not I wake up. I might just sleep until my next shift on Wednesday, at this rate.
