Peds ER: new experiences.

So after a full half of the rotation is over I find I'm disappointed.  I'm disappointed with the amount of action that we're seeing (despite my posts mostly its very quiet) and I'm disappointed in my connection with the ER attendings and staff. I am constantly being told that I am 'not  thinking about things properly.' And that I need to read more or something.   I made well enough friends with the residents, but nothing to hang out after work or whatnot.   And it has been made abundantly clear that I am behind my fellow students in aptitude and even the residents know it. There is nothing more frustrating!  I hate feeling stupid.

So after a particularly miserable shift, where I didn't seem to be able to answer any of the docs BASIC questions, I decided to cheer myself up with some hot drink at the hospital cafe. I ran into one of the interns from my internal med month. She is an OB/GYN resident (who had to do 1 IM rotation) and she invited to me come up and talk because its been slow.

But before we know it there is a lady who comes in at 6cm dilated and is rocking back and forth in pain. She is 23 y.o. female and is somewhat mentally immature. She was scared out of her mind and it was too late for an epidural because she was rapidly progressing.  So i got to witness my first birth, without epidural.  Gotta say it was different than expected. It was faster than normal and it was sure painful, but she was less pain and more scared during the majority of it. You could just tell. She was rocking back and forth and crying. She couldn't decide if she wanted her husband there or not. This was even her second child.  It was the end that was the big kicker. I guess it was the most painful part. Her legs started shaking uncontrollably and she said it was so much pain she couldn't talk (which was unusual for this patient).  Gotta say it made me want to cringe in the corner a bit. I maybe thought that being female wasn't so great after all.   The baby did have meconinum (the first baby poo) in HER amniotic fluid, which is dangerous. If the baby cries and breathes before we get it out her mouth then she can breath it in to her lungs and get pneumonia (=bad). So they immediately started suctioning her and tried to keep her from crying. She began to turn blue, so they sucked as much out as they could before she started crying on her own. Usually babies require stimulation (vigorous rubbing) to begin to breathe.  It was crazy because when she came out she looked like she was made of jelly or cartilage or something, all white and green and covered in muck. But a couple minutes of breathing she looked like any other baby.

But the baby came out great and the mom didn't tear and had no complications. So overall good night. And one I really wasn't supposed to have... good thing I went for a hot drink.