unconventional hospital births, part three

on Thursday night's shift, 9 babies entered the world. two girls came first, almost at the same time. their mothers rested on gurneys in the recovery room, adjacent to the Sala de Parto, while two more mothers birthed, this time to two boys.

12:30 am: both gurneys and both delivery room tables are full of women, and in walks Elizabeth in hard, active labor. She is fully clothed. There is nowhere to put her so she stands in the center of the delivery room. As the Obstetra and Technica are pondering logistics, Zuki notices that Elizabeth is holding her breath and bearing down.

"Adrienne, get under there!" Zuki exhorts. I bend down, reach under Elizabeth's skirt and receive a slippery little girl into my arms.

The Obstetra comes to help me bring the baby up to her mother's arms, then she grabs the requisite hemostats and clamps/cuts the cord. Elizabeth is looking rather shell-shocked. She is assisted up onto a delivery room table to birth her placenta. Her legs, socks, and shoes are covered with blood and she is shaking. We fetch her some juice, check her pulse, and reassure her that all is well.

I did catch two more babies that night in the more usual hospital style. I am loving that these unusual experiences are finding me and birthing me as a midwife!