My first day at the Bere hospital in Chad!

My first day in Bere

Chad is always very labor intensive. During my two previous times, there was usually little free time, and that suited me just fine. But we rarely had middle-of-the-night emergencies, if someone came in at night and wasn't bleeding profusely, the nurses dealt with it until morning and didn't call Dr. Scott (or me, of course). 

Now I'm at a different hospital which does *a lot* of Obstetrics. I arrived in Chad at 4:30am Saturday, got on a bus at 5:30am to go 7hrs south to Kelo, where Zach was waiting to pick me up for another 1h30min on a dirt road. I got to Bere at 2pm Saturday (which is our day off). 

At 2am I get a call from Danae, there are 2 complicated labors which will possibly turn into C-sections. I got up and ran, obviously! These would be my first time seeing a birth, ever! 

The first one isn't coming out, but the mom was still trying. Finally, with forceps, the baby came out and did great! So did the mom (although she had a grade 3 vaginal laceration -- if you don't know what that means, don't ask. Just know that it hurts). 

The second just needed more time, really. By the time the first one had delivered, the second was progressing nicely. No forceps or C-section needed!! 

Then back to bed at 5am. Up again at 8am, shower (cold water is great to wake up in the morning!) coffee and rounds. Which took forever. Which also included two other deliveries, one mom with a prolapsed cord (baby didn't make it😰) and one with her 6th baby, at a whopping 4,9kg! I got to cut the cord! 

Then to the OR for a C-section. She also had had several babies and the last one was a C-section. Dr. Danae (the superwoman OB-GYN) was afraid of a uterine rupture, the baby was big and she had not progressed all morning. So it was just the two of us-- I assisted on my very first C-section! And got to close the skin at the end!

We finished by 2pm, and in 12hrs I had watched the birth of 5 babies!!!! Talk about intense! 

But it wasn't over: a guy came in who had gotten on a fight against a machette and had deep lacerations on his arm and thigh, plus broken arm. Had been two days though, and he had lunch before coming, so we cleaned and packed his wounds, and will take him to the OR tomorrow. 

I also watched one woman get a birth control implanted, and immediately after implanted one myself! 

Only the. Did I go home to shower (again!), change and eat. At 5pm. 

So all in all, this was an incredibly eventful and awesome day. 

6 more weeks to go! 😊

P.S.: as fun as this day was, I am *not* going into OB and I'm also more convinced than ever that if I have a baby, it will be by scheduled C-section. My vjay-jay is *not* going through that. 😳😳😳