i was eager to see an SVD (spontaneous vaginal delivery), therefore, being the courageous one, i wanted to introduce us to the medical officer,dr. juliana, in charge. i walked beside her while she was passing me and i said "good morning doctor". she didn't even look at me, walked straight as if i wasn't there, but managed to mouth, "good morning". if she was normal, mentally stable, she would stop and look at me and wonder what i wanted to say to her. well, i am not a door opener or a welcomer to greet her without a reason, right? so, fine with me, if she wanted to be an ass, let it be.
thank GOD there was dr. rohaya (H.O), we asked her instead if we were allowed into the labour rooms. we were, so i chose one patient who was already in labour and waited with her for her to deliver. the to-be-mother, salima, was screaming her head off, crying for help, and hoping that everything could end ASAP. the weird part is, how come no one gives her an epidural for the pain? i guess in malaysia, ppl are not educated abt this. they were not told that they had the option to request for an epidural if the pain is too unbearable.
after 2 hours of labour, salima still wasn't ready. her opening was only 9cm and the required length is 10cm. the staffs were worried mad. they called dr. juliana to check on salima. at this point of time, salima was the only patient there. naturally, all of us wanted to see what was going on for us to learn something. we didn't crowd the place, neither we were in her way at all.
salima was screaming like mad and giving up pushing as she can't stand the pain anymore. obviously, salima wasn't aware of her acts because she was in severe pain. dr. juliana examined her and imagine this, dr. juliana was screaming at her and actually pinched her so that she will listen to her. salima's hand accidently hit the doppler machine, but it did not cause any damage to the machine. guess what dr, juliana did? she hit salima's hand and reprimanded salima for that.
once dr. juliana was done with the examination, she was getting ready to leave, with a very sour face. salima was begging her to not leave and help her to ease the pain. but because salima had already said that she can't do this anymore, dr. juliana simply said "saya dah tak nak tolong awak sebab awak macam ni".
is this how a DOCTOR should act?
now, salima was to be pushed to the OT for emergency c-section. i was estatic!! i wanted to see the procedure. they pushed her in because the were worried that the baby might suffocate in the womb as it has been in labour for a little more than 2 hours.
as i was watching the c-section taking place, i was almost blank. it was like watching a miracle happening right infront of you. the baby being pulled from the womb, the cry of the baby, the mother still awake while all these are happening. blood was everywhere but the important thing is that both baby and mum are ok. it is a healthy and big baby boy. he is gorgeous, but then again, all babies are, aren't they.
after seeing the labour, the pain, the baby, the mother, the experience of it all, i thought to myself, this was what my mama went thru, trying to bring me to this world. but among all of my sibs, i was the easiest one out. i came out by SVD and i was a full term baby.
the pain that i saw salima was suffering from could be what mama felt during my labour. i guess that is why it is called LABOUR, because it is definitely super hard work.
it is not that i don't appreciate mama. but after today, i appreciate her even more. no matter how much trouble and pain that she went thru, she still wanted to bring me to this world, and that is something i don't think i can ever tally up with. it is too priceless to even begin to score it.
ma, i know i have said this like a gazillion times, but it is never enough. i LOVE you and thank you for being my mama.....
7 comments:
Obstetrics is a high-tension specialty where work hours are long,decision-making razor-sharp, patients often howling and consequences of mistakes severe, instant and obvious.
Hence Obstetricians in particular, and Surgeons in general often behave in ways that appears rude and callous.Of course this does not excuse their behaviour, but they are human too.
So I suggest you become an Obstetrician in the future--I am sure your patients would come to love you!
first of all thanks for the suggestion and the well wishes.
yes, i understand the challenge of decision making at split-second speed, and yes, they are humans too.
but the prob is at that particular moment, it wasn't that kind of emergency where everything has to be done STAT. there were still some idle chatting going on albeit the mother screaming ang howling on the table. and as a doctor, she should not let that happen as that does not do any good to the mother.
don't you agree?
"don't you agree?"
Yes.
But what I meant in preceding post was that the nature of their work over a period of time tends to make Obstetricians a mass of jangled nerves even during
' normal' times, not necessarily during emergencies only ;)
Of course that should not happen in an ideal situation, and indeed there are some Obstetricians who behave like angels with patients.So there's still hope la?:)
hope is always there when you believe.
i do.
so, hopefully la kan? ;)
you reply at 3.51am?!!
kan kan !:)
hmm, if I were the doctor in-charge, I would give epidural since pain can prolonged the duration of labour. She is quite an insensitive doctor and she should learn to be more caring.
hafiz,
nerve blocks like epidural & Cx blocks in fact prolong the duration of labour. But of course thats better than the agony unless contraindications exist.
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