I caught my first baby!

Early this morning while I was rounding on my patients, a nurse sitting behind me answered the phone. "Yeah, he's right here." I turned around, expecting the call was to tell me that one of my patients was about to deliver. "You're wanted in room 9, stat!" The nurse smirked as if she knew she were reading lines straight from a medical drama TV show. I dropped what I was doing and flew down the deserted corridor, overloaded white coat pockets flap-flap-flapping against my body.

The room was already prepared for delivery when I arrived. The bed was raised, the patient's legs up in footrests, my resident in sterile gown and gloves standing between the patient's legs, and the table of instruments and a nurse behind her. Standing room only crowd of family. A quick glance showed me that the baby's head hadn't yet crowned. "Gown and gloves!" my resident shouted at me. I gowned up quickly and stood beside my resident between the patient's legs.

"That's it, give me a good push, you're doing great!" I took cues from my resident. She was standing beside me the whole time, coaching me through each step with hand signals and a quiet but firm voice, ready to take over if necessary. After having watched so many deliveries over the past several days, the motions came surprisingly naturally.

The head crowned just a few minutes later. I held the baby's head in my left hand and followed him as he turned his head to the left. Unwrap a loop of umbilical cord from around his neck. Gentle downward pressure to deliver his top shoulder. Then with a gush of amniotic fluid and blood, he entered this world. With my right hand I supported his back and swung his body over so that I was cradling him in my left arm. Suction, suction, first breath, then a loud cry.

Remarkable. Miraculous. The whole process would seem magical if I weren't so familiar with the biology.

I clamped the umbilical cord and gave Dad scissors for the honor of cutting the cord. Then I presented Baby to Mom. She held him close on her chest, smiling down on him with tears in her eyes and that singular glowing expression of a new mother.

I could have lost myself in the emotions of that moment, but my job wasn't done yet. I collected cord blood, delivered the placenta, massaged the uterus, and inspected the vagina for tears. Under my resident's supervision, I repaired a mild tear with a single stitch. Then we cleaned up.

Dad asked my resident and me to pose for a picture with Mom and Baby. We gave our congratulations all around, I thanked Mom for inviting me to be a part of her delivery, then we left the family to celebrate.