Horrible and scary story, read at own discretion...

Hi again. So, lots has happened. Hmm, where to start.
Yesterday at the hospital was a crazy night. First, we had a woman who was 5cm dilated and was having huge late decels (the baby's heart rate decelerated after the peak of contractions=bad). It got as low as 50 beats per minute and was lasting over a minute, regularly. She was dilating quickly, and ended up having a vaginal birth and baby was fine (though small at 1.9 kg). The baby's eyes did do a weird shaking thing, which I have never seen.

Second mum I helped deliver, G3P3 (3 pregnancies, 3 births), no tears, no problem.

Then, a mom and her family came into the hospital. The baby had been born "in the bush"and was wrapped up in a blanket and was handed to the midwife. I was busy making cotton balls, but I wanted to know what was going on, so I went into the labor ward. The mum needed suturing, so I helped Susanne draw up Lignocaine (like Lidocaine) and she sutured the second degree tear. Susanne said this may be a police case, the baby was dead. After helping suture, I watched the OB (who was specially called in) examine the baby. The baby's face was covered in blood, and the body was covered in dirt and leaves. Blood was coming out of its mouth. There were small bruises and lacerations on the baby's nostrils and on the neck (where the carotid arteries are). This is what the mum told the midwife: she said her baby was only 6 months along (which it was not, it was definitely full term and a good sized baby) and she was out in the bush collecting oranges. She said she jumped up with a stick to get an orange, and when she landed back on the ground her baby "fell out" and hit its head on a rock. She said it died there (there were no marks on the skull and no broken bones, though the x-ray report has not come back yet). She delivered the placenta, left it and the baby there, took a bath in the ocean, and then went home to take a nap (leaving the baby alone, dead, in the bush). Later, her mum asked her what happened and she said her baby fell out and she left it in the bush. Her mum made her come into the hospital. So, a police report was filed. I could not get the picture of the dead baby out of my mind for the rest of the night. It was sad. The mum was kept at the maternity ward over night, and lots of security guards were around. I don't know what is happening now, but I will keep you posted when I find out.

Susanne (who says HI!), caught the next baby, a G2P2, no problem. The next woman, I helped deliver (G2P2). I got to suture her two second degree tears (they were deep, between the vaginal floor and labia minora, a tricky spot to suture, but good experience).

Other than that, not much else new. Oh, we have been swimming out in the harbor (Molly, we go past the helicopter pads to the rock in the ocean). It is super sweet, and a good swim. Sorry if this blog is choppy, I am a little intoxicated :)
Peace and love (and Southern Comfort with Coca Cola),
Samantha*