Of a destructive delivery

So, I have been on a long sabbatical. It's been great ! Met a lot of cool people in the past year, Learnt a lot of surgery and other fancy medical stuff. Oh and I got to spend loads of quality time with family, wedding bands and beaches! 2012 was magical in every sense of the word.
Like every other good thing, it had to come to an end and I am now back to my passion, OBGYN! Yesterday, I was in labor ward all day, doing what I love....(well, today every muscle in my being is screaming murder). The boss came early to do the handover round as we all wanted to go catch the presidential debate(Very considerate Chap). We finished in good time and just as we were about to leave, a midwife calls us to go handle an emergency. *REALLY,????

This lady had just been wheeled into labor ward in Second Stage(meaning her baby was ready to be delivered any moment). Well, that happens a lot only that in this case, her baby was in breech( a condition whereby the baby is born feet and legs first instead of the head).  The very competent midwife had delivered the baby's body but the head was "stuck " inside. In such a situation, the senior most midwife first goes in and tries maneuvering the baby, when that fails, the wide eyed Resident (read me) takes over....then the Consultant is the ultimate.

So in we go, follow protocol by the book and we all fail miserably. See, we notice that the baby has spina bifida(a birth defect on the spinal cord) and no matter what we do, the baby's head refuses to come out, and we are left with only one conclusion. This baby has hydrocephalus (condition where the baby has an extremely large head from accumulation of fluid, goes hand in hand with the Spina Bifida). By this time, the pink baby body we were seeing initially has turned dull and lifeless....

We rush the woman to theatre and hope that as we put her under GA, her muscles will relax and we can try deliver the head. Unfortunately this too fails and by now, the baby is lifeless, head snugly tight within the mother whilst the body wilts away. What we do next, can not be described in this post.......but the mother's life takes precedence over everything else.

Ladies,  when pregnant, just do an ultrasound, know what state the baby you are carrying is in. Had this happened in a different set up without the facilities we have, a mother and child would have both died. We got to save a mother, but we all love to have a healthy mother and baby!

Am ecstatic to be back, albeit on a sad note.... Keep reading!