Labour Room Days

One month labour room posting. The toughest period in the life of a MBBS student. Busy days and sleepless nights. However, it is considered to be the best posting during  4.5 years of MBBS course. Just as one of my senior told, it is the time, when medicos feel themselves to be doctors. And of course, it is the time, when we recognize the amazing creativity of THE LORD.
        Just like every other posting, our labour room posting too started after a series of instructions and firings. Patients were a few compared to previous months. Many say"It's not the season..!" Once our medical college was the place which held the record for the maximum deliveries conducted in Asia. Whether our people have improved or not, the situation has changed now.
           One month labour room posting was of course a memorable one for me right from the first day.  The first delivery we saw in labour room was an intrauterine death. In other words, the child  died before delivery..! We were stunned to witness this scene..  I stared at that woman's face which was still emotionless. Doctor must have told her before, that her child is no more. I can't say how she controlled her emotions even after knowing that she had lost her baby which she carried for nine months in her womb.
             Just as I mentioned before, it is the time when we realize how skillful our Lord is.. To create a life from no where.. To protect that new life for 9 months.. . To deliver it out without any defects..To make it live with expectations.. To end it when least expected..!
            Of course, it is the time during which we medical people learn many procedures, ranging from the collection of blood to conducting of a delivery and suturing the wound. I got the chance of taking an intra dermal injection on the 2nd day of posting. I gave the injection without looking at the face of patient, because I know how painful it is to have the syringe needle searing through the skin, since I experienced it when I was admitted last year being a H1N1 suspect..!
        The delivery of a baby is a complicated process as far as we undergraduates are concerned. Only experienced persons can handle it well. It is the time for us to learn the procedure, house surgeons to practice the procedure and for post graduates to show their skills in the procedure.After 2 weeks, we were shifted to night. It is the hardest time for house surgeons and post graduates because they have to be alert always through out the night. Most of days, we could sleep only for 3 hours. But, we were satisfied comparing our situation with that of house surgeons. One special thing regarding night posting is the 'thattukadas'(തട്ടുകട). We had to depend on them to control our appetite. Scrambles were the needed ones with ഉപ്പുമാവ്  and അച്ചാര്‍  being the favorite.   Everyday two of us had to go outside for buying food for all of us as well as house surgeons. Though it was a nice feeling to walk outside at night, it wasn't a good job to collect the details of food items they needed, buy it and keep on calculating their prices which never goes right..!
           Some guys in the labour room were music lovers. Music ranged from soft ghazals to hard rock numbers. Beats of the hard rock music, finally succeeded in overcoming the sound of cries of the mothers..! I thought that the babies would go back to the wombs if they hear these loud noises..!  
          We got the opportunity to take up deliveries ourselves. I eagerly waited for my turn to come. Finally, it was  my turn. I got a chance to take a delivery for myself. I made it sure that, this time, it will not be an intrauterine death. I prepared myself, wearing apron and wet gloves. The head of the baby was visible. I pulled it gently.. I delivered the body of the baby.. Unlucky again..! it was a preterm baby. In another words, baby hasn't attained enough growth and it weighed only 1.3 kgs and doctors were sure that it will not survive..! On total, it was another bitter experience for me at the labour room
     Finally our labour room posting ended. We arranged a treat for our seniors and our lecturers. It was the time for us to say good bye to our lecturers, house surgeons, post graduates and of course,  those little ones..! We remained stunned with their silence and smiled with their little cries..! Let them smile forever..!