The Night Shift

Hi all. To quote of the Velie family's favorite movies, "I slept great, I got a full forty minutes!"

But actually, I am sitting here writing this post after a 4 hour nap after a 13 hour overnight shift in the labor and delivery ward at my practicum site at a health clinic in Mukono. Long story short, I have a completely new level of respect for those who are able to work at night.

I arrived at the health clinic to meet my friend, Laura, who is an intern in the Operation Theatre. She invited me to watch a C-section procedure moments after I arrived and I was so thankful for the experience. After a struggle to fit my braided hair into the hair net, I was able to stand in the corner and watch the highly experienced and knowledgeable surgeons perform this procedure. They worked so coherently and flawlessly and before I knew it, the mom was stitched up and being taken to a recovery ward. I was able to ask my steady stream of questions to one of the surgeons, who patiently answered them all and invited me to come join Laura in the future, which is something I greatly look forward to.

At 8:30pm Laura and I walked to the Labor and Delivery ward and spent the remainder of our time there. Over the course of the night, I think we witnessed 8 deliveries and many more mothers who were progressing to the end stages of labor. We witnessed episiotomies, repairs, artificially ruptured membranes, and stained amniotic fluid, among other things. While the rest of the health clinic was quiet, very unlike during daytime hours, the delivery ward always had people waiting and walking around which was different than my typical experiences here. As I would step outside to walk around and get some blood circulating (mostly to keep me awake), there was never any time that the city was 'quiet'. Cars and large trucks are still passing on the roads, honking their greetings to one another. Many boda boda drivers are out, contributing to this commotion. The clubs start up and are playing very loud music with bass that rattles the windows of the delivery ward. I am not sure what I expected from a big city, but I think a slower pace at night was part of it and I turned out to be very wrong.

One of my most treasured moments from the night was being asked to accept the baby after delivery. This is an incredibly small task, but requires the use of gloves, which is my first time needing to wear gloves since beginning my observation hours at the health clinic. Once the midwife would cut the umbilical cord, I would wipe the baby off with a blanket as he or she is laying on mom's chest, pick up the baby and show mom the sex, and go weigh the baby. After, I would get to bundle the infant up in many sheets and keep an eye on him or her while mom was getting treatment from the midwife. And I got to do it multiple times. Holding an infant is so crazy for me to think about and is something Laura and I discussed during the night. To think how the screaming infant that I am wrapping up was just inside an organ, not breathing, not exposed, and secure mere moments earlier would bring tears to my eyes. How beautiful is this moment of birth, how strong the mother for carrying and delivering this child, and how powerful that we have a God that knows each of us in the space before we come into this world. I am in awe.

On a bit of a separate note, I found out this week that I have been accepted into the School of Nursing at the University of Northern Colorado and will be beginning my coursework in the fall. I am so incredibly excited to begin learning nursing skills and be an official nursing student!! So while I am thankful that I was able to experience a night shift, but would not be horribly upset if I never had to ever again now that my nursing school acceptance is official. Especially a night shift without coffee. Like my mom, I am very quickly learning that I am someone who needs my sleep to properly function. This is good to know about myself, but gives me such a deep respect for those who can work night shifts and still maintain relationships and a healthy lifestyle. If that is you, thank you.