The 24-Hour OB Duty
All pictures were taken by the undeniably talent Julian Cañero. Well, except the ones with him on the shot.
This folks, is the famous umbilical cord. I’m sure you’ve heard of it before but I bet you’ve never seen one - unless you have unreal memory that stretches back to your fetal life. The meaty thing on the upper right hand corner is a part of the placenta. This is the organ responsible for the blood supply of the fetus during the duration of the pregnancy.After the baby is expelled, you still have to deliver the placenta.
This is Julian helping a mother delivery. You literally have to pull it out. The easy deliveries wherein the mom barely needs to do anything only happens in movies. Also, pag-ire or bearing down should not be done while making sounds. Alas, the movies got it all wrong again! Since bearing down is very similar to what you do when you try to move your bowels, certain… excreta may find its way out during the delivery. It’s very scary to pull out a baby’s head out. You’ll be instructed to pull as hard as you can and not worry about snapping the neck of the baby. And oh, look at Julian’s left arm! I sure hope mommy doesn’t have hepatitis or HIV. haha
Awwww. Unfortunately, Julian was sleeping when I delivered my patient’s baby at around 6 AM - about an hour before we were to leave — so I have no evidence of helping out in the delivery room.
I’m sure not a lot of you know this, but most of the time, scissors *YES SCISSORS* find their way into the sterile field next to the delivery table. What are the scissors for? Well you see, a baby’s head isn’t exactly small and the opening to the vagina isn’t exactly big to accommodate the passage of that head. So to facilitate easier passage, doctors cut from patients vagina towards the direction of the rectum to increase the passable area. This mangled up flesh is then apposed and sutured (i.e. stitched) together later on. If this cut isn’t made, the damage could be more grotesque and the welfare of the baby could be compromised. There have been cases where in the vagina and the rectum ended up being just a single opening because of… well, massive tearing. *go imagine that mental picture*
If you haven’t noticed yet, we’re wearing scrubs, a really fugly hair net and a mask that makes breathing a very tiring chore. I always wear black scrubs. On my neck are a sphygmomanometer (otherwise known as a blood pressure apparatus) and a stethoscope (handy for checking the baby’s heart sounds while awaiting delivery. Decreased heart sounds and movement could be an indication for an emergency cesarean.
I hear yupies whine about their job schedules like drama queens and I never really let my sympathy go out to such people. Med students have it worse. We’re on 24-hour duty EVERY THREE DAYS and we don’t get the next day off. We still have to be at the hospital from 7 AM to 5 PM the next day. And oh, we’re not getting the paid like those whiners. Haha.
These three show that sleeping in weird positions and the most unlikely of places is one of the most important skills that one can learn in med school.
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on 
Ew.
Thank you for posting this entry. Two minutes ago, I was really excited to get married and have lots of babies. The photo of the newborn baby just made my sniffles go away (not literally though).
i love the last pic. ganda ng shot. seeing med professionals from another angle.
but yeah youre right, mas nakaka pagod ang work ng med peeps. 24hour duty, laging on-call.
Umm. Fuck. Do I still want kids?
You can’t see stains on black. Even dirt. Also, isn’t black frowned upon as the “color” which will most likely set a depressing/negative vibe/feel when seen most importantly by patients? There’s a reason why scrubs are mostly in blue, or pastel, attributed mostly to their calming effect. It’s great for the hospital to let to be all emo-doctor with the look, though. LULZ
just out of curiosity…
what would you prefer
a) being cut from your V to your A;
or
b) having an ugly scar on your abdomen for the rest of your life?
Fritz, my patients are NOT racists. LOL.
Black scrubs look so casual. I think I could go to the mall and still look presentable while wearing ‘em. I’ll wear scrubs to a blog event! LOL
I knew you were gonna ask that. I’m thinking B. Cos it can be Vicky Belo-ed off.
But according to the boyfriend: well, the cut you’ll barely feel…and it will take half the time to heal as a cesarean cut. Also, some girls actually end up being tighter after being stitched up from that vaginal cut. trust me, i’ve not seen a cesarean scar go completely away. whereas your vagina will be good as new in 2 weeks
Huh.
I pick normal poppin’ those puppies out the downstairs childbirth then!
That picture. WIN.
Um… what picture exactly?
See, this is why I’m not very keen on giving birth via normal delivery. At least, I was unconscious when everything happened. Although, the pain after the anesthesia wore off is mind-numbingly excruciating.
My CS scar, effing ugly as it is, it’s my battle scar. Hee.
Ganun pala hitsura ng umbilical cord.
Ob-gyn lolo ko and now I know how how hard it is to be one pero fulfilling naman if later on makita mong maging successful yung mga babies hehe
Well, he’s right. Women are “allowed” to have sex by their doctors just 2 weeks after their delivery.
I’ve heard placentas make good pies. Ever tasted one, Benj?
jeezz.. that reminded me of why i dont want anymore kids.
i thought i already wrote a comment but i dont know what happened to it cuz i viewed another page when i clicked ‘add’. did it get thru?
anyways, if it didnt, eewww!! but heck, the pain and the ugliness of giving birth will never compare to the joy that comes from being a mom.
You are such a baby.
I have a pic of me sleeping but it’s too unflattering to post. hahaha
Of course. My parents kept my placenta and we made it into a pie when I turned 18!
Well, adoption can be a viable option. :p magpaligate ka na!
napansin ko lang.. ang ganda ng kuha ng camera nya!
astig!
teka.. pahabol na comment lang.. bat Australia ang flag ko? nasa pinas ako ah.. hmmmmmmm.. weird..
I won’t be surprised if you always wear black scrubs.
True. Med students are super tortured. When I thought that Nursing students are already haggard, I was super wrong. :))
The pics will be sort of helpful for me when I do my RLE in a few years.
This post just increased my fear of giving birth 10x! Seriously. I’ve heard about “the scissors” before but not in the way you described it. YIIIKES!
My answer to your question for Helga is also B! I don’t mind the suture, just as long as I was asleep when it was done on me. Haha
Seriously, I’m scared of having to do this one day.
Isn’t ‘pink’ more calming?
Hahahaha. Benjie wearing pinkie scrubbie. POOF!
My parents kept a portion of my umbilical cord. All taped up.
But why make a pie out of your own placenta? I have no idea why people came up with such a grotesque delicacy. Hindi ba bulok na yun, or you’re just joking?
Excellent photos!
Amazing that you got willing photography models too. (The baby being delivered) I imagine the mother was a relative? It’s kinda hard to get real-life photos like this!
Patients sign a waiver. The Philippine General Hospital is a training hospital and documentation of such training is covered. Don’t try to get smart with me, please.
If they’re not cool with that, they could always give birth somewhere else. But just the same, I picked the shot with the least amount of skin exposed. Heck, you can’t even see much of her exposed skin. Yes, they were very much willing to be there. Go grandstand somewhere else.
Come in it complete with the smell of placenta, too. Para in-character.
Where should I shop?
Sinister. Sweeney Todd in black scrubs.
And waste my perfectly evil genes? No thanks. I’d rather go with option B.
Hahah. WINNAR ka talaga Poyt!
Let’s, um. Splice your genes with summady tall. Like say, err, Jhed? Whatchasay?
dude, just asking. the umbilical-placenta shot is truly beautiful
as you said, with a waiver, you can show whatever. it’s sort of like the masferre argument.