By PJ Pitts
When I got here I mentioned to one of the OB/GYNs that I’d love to see “the miracle of life”, and last night, Tipu sent one of the physician assistants for me.
The mother came in late in the afternoon, and had been having contractions since the morning. We tried for a vaginal birth – one of the ER guys and I held her legs (no stirrups on our tables) and pushed while she pushed. The baby had defecated in the amniotic fluid (MAC), the heart rate was over 200, and the mother wasn’t responding to oxytocin, so we had to do an emergency c-section.
I grabbed the meds and we headed to the OR.
It went well – slight complications, but today the mother and baby (all 7lb 6.9 oz) are doing fine.
One of the NICU nurses stayed for the birth, even though she was off, and mentioned to me that this was what she needed to see. I didn’t understand what she meant, until she explained that they’d lost three babies today.
Since the mom wasn’t very coherent (the whole being in labor all day, and having an emergency c-section), and we needed to call the baby something, I “named” her (temporarily) “Joy” – since it was such a joy to have a full term, healthy baby here.
*PJ Pitts is a pharmacist from Oregon. She does clinical work part-time in the Portland area, and works part time as a compounding pharmacist at Broadway Apothecary in Eugene. She has agreed to share some of her moments while volunteering at the Project Medishare Hospital in Port-au-Prince. This is her first time in Haiti. You can read about her first day volunteering with Project Medishare here.
PJ and the pharmacists are THE BEST! Finding everything….and fast! So many meds, such a variety of patient needs, and so much going on at once…..med/surg tent, ER, OR, peds, ICU, PICU, NICU………how did you prepare for that? I don’t know….but you did it! And with practically no sleep…
Great job!
Rose
Rose – are you the same Rose who was one of the amazing night nurses with me?!?! The honest answer is years of practice… And now that I’ve been once, I have a better idea of how to prepare for the next time!
PJ
That was quite the night!