Connor and I have been trying a new approach to our hospital schedule- today we went in for the afternoon and evening, because all of the students peace out at about five and then we have more opportunities to ask questions of the nurses. We had a really nice morning! I had been tipped off about some decent instant coffee (star coffee) which I bought yesterday, and so this morning I enjoyed two cups of coffee- my first since Monmouth in London. It felt sooooo good. Connor and I spent the morning doing crosswords on the iPad and went in to the hospital after lunch. We watched two c-sections in the afternoon. The first was for a ruptured uterus, which I had never seen before. The baby was stillborn and the mother's uterus was torn in two directions and looked stiff and dark. It was shaped at that point kind of like a baseball mitt, but the surgeon closed the uterus again despite the high likelihood of future dangerous pregnancies. He hadn't discussed the possibility of a damaged uterus with the mother beforehand, so he felt that he couldn't perform a hysterectomy. Safe spacing is key in situations like this,, as is close and conscientious monitoring throughout pregnancy. The chance that the mother will take these precautions with her next pregnancy is slim, so I can't help but be concerned for her. The second c-section went very well, happily.
After our afternoon tea, we returned to the hospital to help out with labor and delivery. They had delivered sixteen babies between nine and five, and we saw many more mothers there laboring. One mother was laboring in the hallway and had her baby there, unattended. Connor ended up helping nurse Zaki with the mother while I tended to the baby. There was so much going on that it was hard to tear ourselves away for dinner, which is served between nine and ten in the evening.
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