HiPPA declares that I be vague, and I’m too tired to be much of a storyteller, but…oh man, I haven’t stopped smiling, and this happened around noon.

I finally, finally got my clinical rotation into an active Obstetrics unit at a hospital, and spent the entire day taking care of postpartum moms and their newborns. By God. Babies. Lots and lots of BABIES. All of them too adorable for words. Unlike my Med/Surg rotation, there is no specific mother/child patient that I’m assigned to, since there’s no way to prepare the night before for a birth that could happen at any time. My partner and I ended up running the entire floor, and even though it was tiring, I honestly didn’t want to stop working at the end of the shift. We did mommy and baby vitals and assessments, baby baths, pictures, lactation therapy, teaching dad how to take care of mommy and the baby…it was just…absolutely amazing.

But the best was around noon, and I almost missed it. All the moms in postpartum were happy and resting, so I was on my way to get some lunch, and about two steps from the elevator. My professor comes out of the Labor and Delivery rooms, spots me, and shouts “Get over here NOW!!” I did an about-face and rushed over. And ten minutes later, I was helping deliver a little baby.

It was a close call, though. The baby came out bluish-ashen, not breathing, and not moving. I stood there, thinking “Oh no…”, and while I was frozen, the respiratory techs immediately took the baby over to a crib and got to work. These guys were absolutely silent, probably to not upset the mom and dad, but the whole room got eerily quiet…except for the mom, who was cursing up a storm as she finished up with the afterbirth. At that point, the two other students in the room and I stepped back and let the pros do their work. Two minutes later, the baby jerked around and began crying. I think you could hear that massive sign of relief throughout the entire hospital.

I have med sheets to do for tomorrow for Med/Surg, and it’ll be a long time before I can go to bed, even though I’m exhausted as hell. But at least for tonight, nothing can wipe this smile off my face.