I was talking to a friend whose a year ahead of me, who had no clue she'd even like OB until she caught her first baby. She literally teared up talking about how amazing it was. 🙂 Just wondering if anyone else had an "ah-ha" moment like that when they delivered their first baby?
Uhh...nope.
😳
The first time I saw a baby being delivered vaginally, it was on a movie during a lecture in 2nd year. It grossed me out so much that I crossed OB/gyn off my list completely.
In real life, it wasn't nearly that gross (to me anyhow). But it wasn't really a glowing experience - I was freaked out (where do I put my hands???) and confused. They started me out on night float, and I had
no idea where to be, what to do, etc. I didn't even realize that you're supposed to wear a sterile gown and a surgical mask while delivering a baby!
The real "ah-ha" moment for me in OB/gyn came a few nights later on night float. A woman came in abrupted - and that was the first time in my med school career that I had seen a patient that needed someone (specifically a doctor) to take care of her
right away. That's a really powerful feeling - to realize that as an OB/gyn, my resident made an immediate, LIFE SAVING impact on
two lives at the same time. I wanted that too.
If my residents had not been there at that moment, that woman and her baby would have died. But, thanks to them, two lives were saved successfully. That's an amazing feeling.
The second "ah-ha" moment came during surgery. The first time I saw a code, it was awful. The ICU intern was an ob/gyn intern that I had worked with - she was really distraught at having to watch this guy die. When the code finished (unsuccessfully), she looked at me and said, "I want to sneak back onto L&D and celebrate a few birthdays. Wanna come with me?" I knew exactly how she felt.
