I love OB/GYN!

Hello faithful blog followers,

Our third day at the hospital is complete, and I cannot begin to express how much I have already learned!! I have been in the O.G. (obstetrics and gynecology) portion of the hospital for the last three days and I absolutely LOVE it. I knew I was interested in OB/GYN before coming to India, but this experience has confirmed that feeling times a million! Since Monday, I have seen multiple C-sections, vaginal deliveries, ante-natal checkups, and I have gone on rounds in the wards with high-risk pregnant or post-labor patients.

My first day (Monday), I was on the high-risk labor and delivery ward and immediately scrubbed in to watch a C-section. It's amazing how quickly the doctors and nurses can access the uterus and pull the baby out. While watching, I realized I haven't actually forgotten EVERYTHING from anatomy - you see the doctors cut through Scarpa's fascia, pull apart the rectus abdominus (no cutting of the abdominal muscles, entirely manual in nature...literally just stick their fingers in the linea alba and tear the two sides apart!), then the uterus is sitting right there! It's a very simple, concise procedure. I held the babies after both C-sections (my mom and Bridge know how happy that made me!) and made sure to tell them both happy birthday and welcome to this world!

The multiple vaginal deliveries I saw were wild - I cannot get over how amazing the miracle of human life is. I also can't get over how quickly the baby is delivered once the woman starts pushing, or how crude the episiotomies are here! Babies are born by the second - I left to watch a C-section and missed 4 vaginal deliveries! Only the women who can afford their own room get privacy, while the rest of the women are lined up in beds along the wall, separated during their delivery by only a curtain from the woman next to them. Additionally, there is no AC in the labor and delivery rooms!!

Outside of work, people still stare at us like we are aliens, but I am used to it! I love how bustling everything is here (Caitlyn hates crossing the street, but I think it's fun...I feel like I am in the game Frogger) and we are loving the rickshaw rides we take to and from the hospital. Today, Shivani, Sarah, Jen and I rode on a rickshaw to the bus station, and I don't think I have ever or ever will be anywhere dirtier. There were homeless people sleeping on the ground, goats eating trash, TONS of flies, people trying to sell us street food, probably about 50 buses and new buses arriving/leaving every 2 minutes. We were there investigating how to acquire tickets to visit Bangalore this weekend, but the Bangalore ticket station was closed and supposedly opened at 3:30 according to a random boy. So we waited 15 minutes and then asked another man who told us it closed at noon. Hours of operation in this country are ridiculous - we had to go to the bank multiple times to cash travelers checks because the only man who does it is there from only 10-2! What kind of hours are those?!

All in all we are getting the hang of things in Vellore and have started to venture out. We ate at a restaurant down the street, got ice cream at another place, walked and picked up some pizza (which was awful - nothing like American pizza!), and basically just explored the surrounding area a little. This trip is opening my eyes and helping me to realize how small America is in the grand scheme of things - there are so many places to see and so many adventures to go on and so many people to meet in the world! Hopefully my next trip will be to Macedonia with my Baba to visit relatives and see the village where my dad's side of the family lives/lived!

Talk to ya'll laterrrrrr!
Alexis

P.S. For those who this pertains to, I have wireless so feel free to email me and I will respond when I can!