This rotation was my first experience with childbirth. It took just a few short weeks to gain some valuable insight into a really very truly dangerous right of passage. What a great privilege to be side by side with these mothers and witness for me this heretofore completely unknown event known as childbirth. First I should say that I was really surprised the first time I saw a mother's water break- water for me has always had a connotation of purity and cleansing and life (from baptism and all its religious symbolism to the water's obvious symbolism of life etc). The mother's water breaking and spilling all over the table and floor is a clarion call to the unstoppable force of life, the water breaks the baby is coming, the baby is pure and has not been in this world, it is clean, the baby waits for no one, not even tocolytics. It was really amazing. And then mix the water with blood. So much blood! For me blood has its own symbolism as well, blood is life and passion, in this context blood is the mother's life and it is literally spilling out onto the table with the newborn. The mother gives part of her life to the newborn and to the birth. These two fluids water and blood, have such gravity in the context of childbirth. It was apparent after seeing just one childbirth why for ages these two vital substances have held such great esteem throughout all of human culture. You can't name a culture that won't respect the sanctity of water and blood. What's more, during the OB portion of our rotation I really developed a sense for the cost of life, both in our more modern times and in the past. Even today it became clear that childbirth is an extremely dangerous event, even with packed red blood cells, and FFP and a team of skilled physicians standing by, how unpredictable and completely at the mercy of God, the universe, or who knows what else it is to be the mother bringing life into this world. I caught the spirit of the mystery of life, if only as a spectator. Can you imagine how dangerous it must have been to labor and deliver before such modern luxuries?? When faced with these mortal risks, to say nothing of the intense pain, the true cost of life becomes apparent to those women who choose to undertake its passing forward. The moment of delivery in its pain and suffering stands in stark contrast to the moment of pleasure and romance during conception, how diametrically opposed these two marvelous events are, both lived by the mother! I learned just how easy it is for mom to bleed uncontrollably, to give her life for another, half a liter of blood minute right out of the womb, life could be over in as short as 12 minutes. The gravity and sobriety of a delivery leaves its mark on the mother, especially the younger nulliparous. But despite these high costs, I saw that a mom can get what she paid for in the intense joy and mother's love toward the newborn, it seems that feeling is worth the risk, worth putting your up your life and limb to fortune. Now after this rotation, I can fully appreciate the cause for celebration when fortune smiles and a mother gives birth to a healthy baby with minimal complications. It really is a miracle.
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