Peanuts

So many times over the past few weeks I've thought, "I must write about this." Those moments have been frequent--not all happy, and some heartbreaking--and yet the nights have been late and evenings heavy with the loss of sleep and press of responsibility. Soon enough, I find that there are too many stories clogging up my veins and it's impossible to pick just one. I prefer a single event, really--I love bringing out the hilarious potential and learning how to recreate a moment so that I can share it as I saw it happen--and OB GYN is amazingly full of the ridiculous. If you like your awkward comments about vaginal fluids, Carrie will provide them. If you're a fan of "That's what she said!" moments, shoot, the OR is a never-ending source of entertainment. And the fun never stops on night float, which I was lucky enough to experience with Carrie and Lisa, who made the never-ending hours so entertaining.

I suppose the most important and joy-filled moments of my life in the past few weeks have been the babies I got to catch. Oh, I watched many deliveries, including several crash C-sections and one OR delivery of twins, but night float is an entirely different story than the daylight hours. Dr. Barrera is the resident in charge of us, and the very first thing he did on that very first night was to take me into a room, gown up, and show me exactly how to catch a baby, hands over mine. She was a beautiful mess, that little girl, and while everybody else was calling out phrases like, "Start the Pitocin" and "Hand me the clamps," I was just holding on to her and babbling like the most besotted moron--"Hello, precious. Aren't you the sweetest thing, just look how perfect you are. Hi, sweetie." It was one of the best moments of my life, followed at the end of the shift by another delivery in which Dr. B left me completely in charge of getting the baby out, plus one helping hand from the senior resident as she let me get used to the force necessary to move the baby where it has to go. All told, I caught four babies on those four nights, and each one was a new and beautiful thing.

It was during that week of night float, after days on end of 14 hour shifts and short nights, that I realized I was happy. Even with all of that, still excited to go in the next day and see what else would come along.  I went in today and discussed OB residencies with Dr. Hart, who I respect and enjoy very much. I think I've found the way my life is headed, and after several years here and most of my life in school, that's a very good feeling.