Labour Room Threats

It’s three weeks in and I already have an idea how this posting will go.

I’m now familiar with my new environment, familiar with the new people and the challenges I’ll likely encounter during the posting. I know I will have more sleepless nights next month, I know I’ll have to deal with misunderstandings with my learned O&G colleagues, I know I’ll have to shout at women to hold still while I repair their episiotomies or perineal tears.

I also know that I’ll have you with me. Sharing my thoughts with you along the way will make the challenges lighter, because every human has that need to share, sharing our day to day struggles makes them easier to bear, forces us to reflect and learn from them.

Two days have passed since my last call, but I’m yet to return to factory settings, it’s crazy. Apart from a couple of women who came in labour at night (as usual), what really kept us up into the early hours of the morning was a slowly leaking ectopic pregnancy.

A young woman had her first pregnancy growing in her right tube instead of the uterus. So we had to go to theatre to remove the implanted fetus and save the woman from imminent rupture of her right tube which could lead to massive blood loss.

It was after returning from theatre that we had to deal with a woman who was bleeding after delivery of her baby. And it took three of us shouting over her to hold still before she would allow us locate the source of bleeding and stop it.

“Madam if you don’t hold still, you’ll have to go to theatre and pay extra twenty two thousand naira, is that what you want? That was the senior registrar issuing threats to the woman. And the poor woman kept asking us to pity her because she was in pains.

But again, we got through, but not without me thinking again ‘which kain wahala’. But the senior registrar I was on call with has to be my second favorite doctor because I think she is dutiful. I loved the way she did her work skillfully without imposing.

I slept through half the next day. I would have gladly slept through the entire day, since it was a weekend but I had to work on my next youtube video which you should totally look out for. These days I’m joggling a number of commitments and although it’s exciting, I’m waiting to see how it all pans out.

A month ago, I didn’t know I’d be writing to you about these things, but here we are. If you’re curious to know what made me start writing this blog, then you should read the first blogpost here.

Having said all that, a new week beckons, and during the new week, a new month. So tell me, what new thing do you want to start doing before the month runs out?

Talk soon,

ajidara