Long Day

Today was an interesting day. Honestly I feel both physically and mentally exhausted.  There was a bit of drama this morning with other students from our program because Helen and I decided to return to Hospital Civil.  We got the okay from the doctors last week but I think the students scheduled at the hospital this week felt like we were barging in on their time there, which I completely understand. So tomorrow Helen and I are going to Centro de Salud Pueblo Nuevo instead of going back to the hospital.

In any case, this morning at the hospital ended up being another great experience.  We went back to the Gynecology department. A lot of the doctors there recognized us and a few actually remembered our names which was cool.  It wasn't all that busy at first. I think there were only 3 women waiting to give birth, but I noticed that one of them seemed to be in a lot more pain than the others.  When I asked the doctor about it, he said that she hadn't been given the epidural yet.  This was apparently for two reasons: 1) because they were sill waiting for her lab results and 2) because there was no anesthesiologist around.  Kind of crazy if you ask me. I can't imagine an anesthesiologist just walking off in the US.  Anywho while the doctor was checking up on her he had me put a glove on so I could actually feel the baby in the birth canal. That was really neat.  The woman ended up giving birth only 10 or 15 minutes later. No epidural but she was great.

A little later, we also got to see a really interesting case.  The mother was pregnant with a baby who's abdomen hadn't fused correctly and as a result its intestines had developed on the outside of its body.  We watched the Cesarean to remove the baby and then I followed the doctors to a different room where they tended to the baby. 

The brown mass next to the baby's body is its intestines

Because there was no space in the hospital and no surgeon currently available, they had to bandage the intestines in a way that would keep the baby stable until it could go through surgery. What they did was basically cover the intestines with a wet plastic bag and tie it down to the baby's body.  They said there was no urgency and the baby would be stable like that for awhile. I thought that was pretty incredible. Poor baby though!

This afternoon we had our last Spanish class. It was kind of sad saying goodbye to Manuel but I'm sure we'll see him around.  Oaxaca isn't THAT big. On the bright side, we now have only THREE days until we leave for Puerto Escondido. I don't know how much I've written about it previously but we're going to spend 2 weeks living in apartments on the beach there. It supposedly looks something like this.

Playa Carrizalillo, Puerto Escondido

We'll still have classes during the week as well as Dengue and Malaria brigades, which should be really neat, but I hear we'll also have ample free time to explore the beaches.  I can't wait. The only let down--by bus, it's a 12 hour drive from Oaxaca on curvy mountain roads. Saturday should be interesting!