“You see it’s to ‘m’s no 1, “Mmungo” not mango. I’m not a
fruit,” the large black nurse carefully instructed us with a slight hint of
humour in her voice sussing us out with her brown warm eyes. We were sitting in
the corner of the staff room in Mitchels Plain midwife obstetric uni, Mark Alex
and I, and feeling a mixture of anticipation and exciting for week to come. I
quickly learned that the sisters working at Mitchel’s Plain MOU were warm,
intelligent and funny people which I thoroughly enjoyed working with and
learning from – eager teachers with quick inquiring minds and concern for us
and our studies.
There was a very steep learning curve on the first night,
working 7pm to 7am. We cooked and ate our food and arrived in our then clean
white coats with minds full of theoretical knowledge, yet relatively void of
applications. We learned quickly how to take patients through, log them in the
register, get a urine sample, take blood pressure, pulse, assess the lie of the
foetus, and listen to the foetal heart. We were thrown in the deep end with per vaginal examinations and assessing
whether or not the woman was having contractions and whether or not her
membranes were intact.
I felt horrified seeing our hard the nurses were on the
patients. I had no idea how much pain women went through in the hours and hours
leading up to delivery. Patients would come in struggling to walk and the
sisters would shout at them and ask “How are you going to deliver a baby if you
cannot even walk in the early stages?” Women in the active phase of the first
stage of labour were often told things like “Stop shouting or I’m going to
leave you to deliver by yourself.” Overall I was pretty shocked.
The first delivery I observed happened very quickly. The
nurses told us that the lady was going to deliver, so I ran to fetch Mark, one
of our trio, and then went to watch. Due to my inexperience I stood 1 and a
half meters from the foot of the bed. The woman’s waters broke shooting
amniotic fluid in my directions. I reacted and tried to side-step it. A small
quantity landed on my leg and shoe. I will never forget that sight.
Generally the first few days were quite slow. I spent a lot
of time reading fiction, chatting to the nurses and other students and playing
card games. Even on the slowest night I refused to go sleep when nothing was
happening because I cope better on no sleep than little sleep. The sisters who
are on ship divide into2 teams, one of which goes “on lunch” from about 12 to
5. This means that they go sleep in the post-natal ward. The facilities were
adequate and the experience excellent.
I delivered my first baby on the second or third night. The sister’s
concept of sterile was in conflict with my concept of sterile. I was shocked at
the fact that the women passed feces when given birth. The strain at the very
end of the 2nd stage is amazing. I have gained a lot of respect for
people who have had children, especially a few children, by normal vaginal
route. I did not understand that supporting the perenium meant to push against
it that hard. The procedure after birth went quite well. I found it difficult
to prioritise things. I felt very relieved for my patients once their babies
were out. They were all happy. I was pleased that they all had planned
pregnancies. I was very fond of the first woman I delivered. She was one of
those women who didn’t care what was expected of her; she just did and was
happy. She spent most of her time pre and post delivery walking around with her
gown hanging wide open and her breast hanging out. At one point she came into
the nurse’s station and started drinking their water and telling them what she
thought of this and that. She had a lot of character.
I do not like babies very much and did not feel anything
towards the ones I delivered.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at MPMOU and learned a
great deal
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