Addendum

20 minutes after my last post, I received the call to once more cross town for OB. Luckily, I was ready this time - I'd eaten as fast as I could, and was reviewing some stuff when the doc called and said that there was a C-section scheduled. So Nicole and I hopped into our newly rented Chevy Malibu - and got snarled in the worst traffic I've ever seen. Maybe it wasn't that bad.....but it was really frustrating. I've had to rush because of being late to work or class, but this was entirely different - I told myself it was life and death, which probably wasn't the case. Sometimes I hate this city; I hate that people drive like they're on crack, and the fact that they all seem to want to go the same place at the same time. It's difficult to get to South Beach on a Friday afternoon, but today we actually had trouble getting to Miami proper. I wasn't quite swerving like a madman, but I used some words my mother wouldn't like.

So I get to the parking lot and am almost running towards the ER when I get a phone call - it's the P.A. student, letting me know that the doc isn't even there yet. So we casually stroll up to L&D to wait. Some of the other students in our rotation are assigned to docs who only practice gynecology, and so won't see any births. Since our doc is so heavily into obstetrics, these other students rotate with him for a few days. One such student was there waiting for us - incidentally, this kid is semi-famous; he'd had T-cell ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia), and had run up a ginormous hospital bill with experimental medications (Gleevec 2.0) - which our student insurance had declined to cover (it was all over student news back when I was on the island). Anyway, he beat his cancer and was joining us today. Coincidentally, he wants to go into OB-GYN, so he was really excited about this rotation. And so Nicole, the P.A. student, the cancer survivor and I hung around the same nurse's station where Nicole had earlier fainted, waiting for our doc.

While we waited, another doc performed a C-section, which the girls went to watch. I opted to stay and wait for the doc, since I figured he'd be there any time. Time came and went, and we were still waiting, and another one of our doc's patients was getting ready to deliver. So we waited. Finally, he arrived and delivered the baby (OBs like to do that, it seems - let the nurses do the checking and prepping, and then swoop in when the kid is crowning for their 10 minutes of day-saving glory). Then there was a bit more hanging around, and we all went to watch a C-section. I know it's still early in my rotation, but I know how I feel about this: though my father said that delivering babies was the fascinating and fun part of this whole rotation (and though I haven't actually done anything yet), I am not thrilled by vaginal deliveries. I thought to myself, as I watched my third one of the day, that I'd be unhappy if I had to do that for the rest of my life; it just wasn't exhilarating. The C-section/tubal ligation, however, was a completely different story - there's an electricity in the air, that just wasn't there for me during the deliveries. Since our cancer survivor was so into OB, the three of us stepped back and observed while he went to assist. I'm not complaining; this is the first official surgery I've ever seen. Nevertheless, I found it far more exciting than the other deliveries; the surgeons' dexterity was very impressive - the cauterizing as they descended through the layers of the abdominal wall was interesting in a technical way, but watching the doc's fingers as he sutured and knotted was like watching someone play an instrument I've never heard. Am I going to be a surgeon? Dunno, but the conviction remains - I have to do something with my hands.

Interestingly, that third vaginal delivery was the only of the four births of the day in which the father was present. It was Nicole's favorite, because the family was so excited, but my favorite of the day was that first girl; she was a champ.

And now all I want is a glass of wine. I'm hoping for no more calls.