Me not dead

Whew, it's been a while. A lot has happened in the 17 days since I posted.

I'm now nearly halfway through my Obstetrics & Gynaecology rotation, and am enjoying it thoroughly. I've yet to witness a vaginal birth, but I've seen about 7 Caesarean sections. The first one blew my mind.

I was scrubbed in, and after the initial abdominal incision it was my job to hold instruments that help keep the tummy open, giving the surgeon a clear view of what he's doing. All of a sudden, instead of looking at fat or muscle, I was looking at hair. From then, it was my job to push the bulging mother's belly towards her feet - in other words, to move the baby so that its head popped through the hole. And it did! All of sudden I'm staring at this tiny face, still inside the mother. At the same time amniotic fluid is gushing everywhere, over the side of the table, and down my front.

I couldn't remember anything that happened after that, so dumbstruck was I by what I had witnessed. The next 6 Caesareans weren't as mind blowing as the first, but they were all pretty damn amazing. I'm not tired of them yet, unlike how I felt after watching 7 colonoscopies or 7 laparoscopic cholecystectomies earlier in the year!

I've also enjoyed the ante-natal clinics I've sat in on. It's fascinating seeing the range of different issues that pop up in pregnancy, and how different each pregnancy can be for each mother. Every mother is different too - from the 14 year old who didn't want her baby, not realising she was pregnant until she was 28 weeks along, to 40 year olds who'd undergone IVF treatment and were cherishing their pregnancy.

It's also made me acutely aware that the proverbial biological clock on my own eggs are ticking away. I'll soon be 32. That'll make me a mere 3 years from being considered "Advanced Maternal Age". That's a slightly daunting prospect.

An even more daunting prospect would be having a baby whilst studying, or doing internship. But is there ever an "easy" time to have a baby. Or is it just something that happens, and you fit whatever else is going on in your life around it as best you can?

The thought of having kids scares me. But so does the thought of not having them, and regretting it once its too late to do anything about it.

Wow this has become a rather meandering post hasn't it? Certainly ended out in a different direction that I'd thought it would when I started this brain dump. Still, better out than in hey!!