OB/GYN: twins

Over the last several weeks we've seen somehow tons of twins. I've seen 5 different sets of twins. Some were bad and some were good.

The first set was a 19 year old who came in for a check up-- just a standard check up. And so we ultrasounded them...but there were no heartbeats.  It was horrifying to tell this new mom, who had been disowned by her parents and living with her boyfriend and only making it work because of the babies, that both twins were dead. What was worse, is that they were big enough that she still had to deliver them.... she had to be induced and go through all the pain. And see them.  It was awful.

There was another girl who was another teenager who already had one baby and was at term. She was scared and wanted a c-section.  Silly thing thought with twins that she'd have to labor twice as well as giving birth twice. The residents begged her and bullied her for a vaginal delivery. They are very rare these days. So she finally agreed and i question the ethics of what they did. Especially since for some reason her cervix wouldn't dilate past 6-- so we ended up c-sectioning them anyway.  They are doing fine.

We saw one girl who had a history of a hpv on her cervix to the point that it was close to cancer. So previous to her pregnancy the doctor performed laser surgery cutting out the portion that was diseased. Now she was pregnant. About 21 weeks.  But her cervix couldn't hold the baby inside, and it literally fell out of her. It was about the size of my hand, maybe larger.  Still attached to the umbilical cord.  21 weeks old is painful because the lungs can't be saved until bare minimum of 24 weeks.  So with only 3 weeks left to go, it came to early.  It was still alive too, moving about and the was the mom held it. The good strong heart beat.  But once the baby is out, there is no way to put it back.... and once its out, the placenta will start to seperate from the mother.  So we only had two tough choices.  Let it die slowly after the placenta ruptures, or cut the umbilical cord and let it die quickly. And the choice was made to cut the cord.  It took two hours for that baby to die.    It was agonizing.

But beyond the sad stories, there are alot of good ones too.  Lots of normal, happy , healthy babies. Those stories that aren't worth telling because there was nothing eventful.  It was nice to see them.   I've been apart of many c-sections probably 70% of deliveries are now a days.  And most of the rest are done under epidural.  And despite all that... the easiest and fastest births are still the natural ones.   And nobody really screams..... the pain of labor isn't as horrifying as i'd imagined.

So that's one good thing.  And I still feel that ob/gyn has a breath of hope left in medicine. And my personality fits here.  but the hours suck.... and it can be very sad.....  i'm still waiting to make a decision. So right now... ER & ob/gyn are tied.


current baby count:39