It takes a storm to bring a child into the world.
Last night at four in the morning, while I was doing the fourth epidural in a row, the new mother was really in a lot of pain. The charge nurse, who is experienced and excellent and compassionate, all at the same time, explained to the mother, 'giving birth is a (gestures with thumb and first finger) little slice of hell--but it is so worth it!'
Did you know that same nurse has been bit by a patient giving birth?
It was back in the day when medi-cal patients were not given epidurals unless they paid for them with cash. Insurance didn't cover it. They threw things, hit, bit, cursed, scratched, and spit at the nurses in the delivery room.
The OB gyn on call last night shared to me, in a low whisper, that on her way in to the hospital after doing an emergency gyn case at another hospital, she hit a dog with her car. She was heartbroken. It just ran out in front of her, and there was nothing she could do. She saw it wobbling but upright when she looked in the rear view mirror. Just then another car hit it. It went down and didn't move. She brought the car back to take it to the vet if it was alive. It wasn't. She had to come in for her patient here, who was not ready to deliver. I invited her to go to the Doctor's Lounge in the Main O.R. to get a cup of coffee, and talk. She accepted.
Did you know OB-GYN is one of the most malignant training programs in all of medicine? She trained on the East Coast, where it is even worse than here on the West Coast, but even still, it was so horrible that four of her class left the program. There were 'five bitches', four chief residents and one attending, who 'picked on everybody, especially the men'. One male, was not 'able to keep up'. He couldn't understand, even when given her notes she took and kept organized, what admission orders were, what a daily note format was supposed to be, how to follow up on routine labs. There it was explained clearly once and then expected to be perfect after that. He was asked to go. The other was a male who genuinely WAS competent, but the Chiefs didn't like him. He left to go into Sports Medicine because of the bullying he experienced. Another woman left to go to a different training program in the South to be with family. And another stayed at the hospital but changed specialties due to the stress.
Being an OB-GYN resident sometimes is like being in the Lindsey Lohan movie, 'Mean Girls'.
Yet obstetricians brave all this, and sacrifice not just their time but their being in such a malignant environment, because they truly love what they do. Our hospital is exceptional in that the different private practice physicians from all of the different groups socialize together. It is very cohesive, which makes for a better program. We are also all Facebook Friends, the nurses, docs, postpartum, and neonatal teams.
I won't begin to describe the anesthesia end of things--think of it as trying to his a moving target--
What I will share with you, as a teaching point, is how to master suddenly changing scenarios, full of drama, and risk to life.
I was asked to see a mom who had just delivered who had questions, at around seven p.m. I had so many clinical responsibilities (patients) needs I couldn't get to her room until ten at night. I politely explained the situation, and that I had not eaten dinner yet. She said, 'Do you want half of my sandwich?' I declined, saying it had meat and I am vegetarian. She said, 'Pick the meat out and eat it anyway.' which I did. Half a croissant, with lettuce and tomato did wonders! We talked through the question and arrived at an answer and it was very pleasant.
The energies were non-stop throughout the day, one 'drama' after another, and one in which the fetus actually was at risk. I fixed it with my knowledge of drugs, and although I had to leave a c-section (while they were closing) for five minutes to manage it, I confessed to her when I got back, 'I just saved the life of the baby by adjusting the blood pressure. No one will know it but me, and now you.'
What was different this time was the lack of emotional undertow into the drama/rapidly changing clinical situations. By 'hanging on to source and being grounded' I quickly prioritized the work and carried it out. One chart I had to complete at eight o'clock the next morning, because there was NOTHING and no time to chart when everything happened all at one time on the unit.
If the energies of the changes on Gaia arrive as I have a hunch they will, it is going to feel for you like the last OB call did for me. Handle it as best as you can without getting 'sucked in' to the swirling storm of emotions. Remain clear-headed, prioritize, and act. You have what it takes to 'get the job done' and help others who are having trouble adapting to the new energies and changes that are about to come with it.
You are about to go where angels 'fear to tread'--you alone are totally equipped for it, whether you know it or not. You signed up for it. http://aquariusparadigm.com/2013/11/14/taryn-crimi-angelic-guides-first-responders/
I know you will be great at it! Just think of all we had to do on OB to bring a baby into the world--all the training, all the experience, and all the love we have for what we do.
You are like us helping Gaia 'give birth' to the New Society, the Golden Age where everything is fair, just, and highly pleasant!
That is why it is called Heaven On Earth!
Aloha and Mahalos,
Namaste,
Reiki Doc