The Baby Factory (Part 1)

I am currently working in a baby factory, not a hospital.
It's amazing, I've never seen so many pregnant women in one place in my life.

They don't even come to this hospital (El Materno-Infantil) until about 2 or 3 weeks before their estimated due date (4 if something might be complicated). All of their OB checkups are done at other smaller hospitals (Centros de Salud).

My first day I worked in the emergency part of the hospital. This is sort of like the distribution center of the factory. The appointments are quick (5 to 10 minutes, after waiting for many hours), there are 3 or 4 women in the same room with their legs spread and cervixes being examined. They are told to come to emergency if they think their baby has stopped moving, if they have severe pain anywhere, if they are experiencing contractions, if their water has broken, etc.

The two questions to answer are: are they ready to give birth or not? Is there an emergency or not? If their cervix is dilated to 4 or 5cm, they are sent to the birthing area of the hospital (I have yet to be inducted into this area). Sometimes they are scheduled for a c-section, if it's felt that it may be an emergency situation. If they are less than 4 or 5 cm dilated, they are classified as non-emergency and they are sent to walk for a few hours, less than 2, they are sent home. It's fast paced, get the job done, no nonsense.

My second day, we first did rounds on many of the patients that we had sent to the birthing center. They now had babies with them and had that exhausted tranquility that surrounds a brand new mother. They get sent home after 8 hours (if there are no problems).

We rounded on one patient who had had a C-section in April, but had returned with a bad infection. Although I'm not completely sure if this is what happened (that whole language thing again), I think that a gauze pad was left inside of her during the surgery. Good to know that it happens here as well as in the states.

On a side note, the future doctors here are so young. . 18, 19, 20. . .crazy.

The rest of my second day was spent doing external consulations. This was similar to the ER, but the appointments were longer, and patients were coming in for a 38+ week check up or because they were having some sort of problem. For most it was just reassurance, for a few it was a referral, and for one it was an immediate C-section - she was not very happy.

And that's the baby factory. . or what I know of it so far.