Day of Birth(s)

After much anticipation, I got my first birthday wish of the year! This morning at 12:50am, I delivered the first baby born in New Haven on July 28, 2005. I take back everything I said about getting tired of deliveries--there is nothing trite about participating in the introduction of a new human to the experience of life. We had two deliveries this morning on my watch: the first was this one, daughter #2 to a couple I met yesterday morning when they had started trying to get this baby out. If the little one ever asks, I'm sure her parents will tell her that she sure took her time coming out, that her grandmothers were waiting outside the room for many hours, that mom was both exhausted and ravenous by the time she finally arrived. This is in complete contrast to the second birth of the morning, which started when I heard a sudden piercing scream echo down the corridor of the labor floor. Initially, I tried to be a good girl and suppress my natural rubbernecking instinct--but then I realized with a start that very soon (if not already) I'm going to be "the doctor in the house", so I'd better start acting as if it's my responsibility to respond immediately to any and all screams of pain. So I dutifully jogged down the hall towards the screams, opened door #1, and saw my intern covered in blood and baby mucus, in the process of delivering the woman on the exam table who was still screaming her head off. I quickly donned some gloves and stepped into the 'field' to help with the process that seemed to be doing just fine without our help. Moments later, baby was out--and then we had some time to find out who and what had just happened! Turns out she started contracting at 2:30am, waited a while to come in, arrived on our floor at 4am, and baby popped out just after 4:15! I've heard the legends of taxicab and kitchen table births; now I can personally attest to the fact that after if you're a woman who's had at least one kid already, don't assume that the next one is going to wait around for you and everyone else to get settled and ready!

Now off to Kansas City for a family medicine conference--I'm having a birthday dinner party at Dulles airport during my 2.5 hour layover later today; all are welcome to join us at the California Pizza Kitchen at 5pm!