It seems that every time I am called to the hospital at night I always find something more than I expected. And this night was no exception.
 

Not long after finishing supper I was called to come and see a patient who was in labor but the baby was presenting breech (butt down) instead of head down. Although she had had a previous vaginal delivery of a stillborn baby, she had also had two miscarriages and had no children so I opted for a c-section in hopes of finally allowing her to have a healthy baby. As I was discussing with her about the surgery, two more pregnant patients presented to the emergency department. One was about to deliver, with the head starting to emerge from her pelvis while the other still had an hour or two before delivery. As we rushed the two of them to the delivery room, I decided to put the surgery on hold since it was not an emergency.
 

Once in the labor room, the woman who was about to deliver became exhausted from pushing and could not get the baby out. Each push lasted only a few seconds and was incapable of pushing the head out effectively. Each time the head appeared from the pelvis, it would disappear back inside. Realizing that she was just exhausted from the pushing, I decided to attach the vacuum and help to pull the child out. After three pulls and some fairly good pushes by the mother, the head was delivered. The baby came out with a good cry. The visiting PUC nursing students helped to take care of the baby while I made my way to the operating room where the first patient for the c-section was ready and waiting on the operating table.
 

I scrubbed in with a visiting Loma Linda University medical student and as always, before the surgery, we prayed. Soon we pulled out a little boy, delivering one foot then the other and finally pulling out the rest of the body and the head. He cried immediately and I was relieved to think that this woman would finally have a healthy child. 
 

As I was writing the post-operative orders for the c-section someone came from the labor room saying that they needed me urgently. The woman was bleeding. When I arrived I found the third woman which we had admitted had just delivered and was bleeding. I quickly massaged her uterus and removed clots of blood from her vagina. The bleeding subsided and then I repaired the laceration she had sustained during the delivery. The area was finally dry with no more bleeding. I walked back to my house and slipped into bed at 3 am thanking God for three healthy newborns.
 

Jason