First Day of Maternity Clinical!!!

This week I had my first day of clinical in maternity and it was absolutely amazing. I started out the day by feeding and holding the newborn babies and each one completely melted my heart. Throughout the day while the new mothers were resting I was able to care for the seven brand new babies by helping with bathing, feeding, changing and just holding them. The babies were incredibly precious and I could not get enough of them!

In the morning an expectant mother came onto the ward in active labor and I was able to be with her throughout the day! It was her second child and she came onto the ward with her husband but he left for the day so she was left alone. The other two students I was with and I stayed with her, watched TV and talked with her throughout the morning. Around lunchtime she began to use hydrotherapy to speed up the process. So while she was in the bathtub the other students and I went down to lunch. While at lunch one of the caregivers on the unit came running down to get us because the patient began pushing and the baby was on the way! When we got upstairs the doctor was already in the room and within a few minutes of us being upstairs a beautiful baby girl was born! It was truly a miracle. For the rest of the day we were able to stay with this patient and her baby girl. I was glad we were able to be with her as she did not have any visitors throughout the day.

There were many differences that I was able to observe in the hospital today compared to the United States. Part of the culture in South Africa is the mothers don’t scream and yell while pushing, like most mothers in the US do. If one were to walk by the delivery room he or she would never know there was a woman in labor in that room. Another thing is women share their rooms with other mothers on the ward so a lot of guests cannot come to visit. During visiting hours the newborns stay in the nursery and only mothers and fathers can come inside the nursery. Visitors can come onto the ward but they can only see the babies through the glass. I think this is a great idea to control infection and prevent the newborns from getting sick. Also, the nurses in the hospital deliver the babies if the doctor is unavailable at the time, something we are definitely not used to in the United States.

If my first day of maternity clinical was this incredible I know that the rest of the semester is going to be absolutely amazing. Even if I wasn’t to see a birth everyday like I was able to on my first day just being around the babies is more than I could ever ask for.