Obstetrics Posting

This is my most awaited posting! I love to interact with pregnant women who are anxiously waiting for the birth of their precious babies, new mothers and families who are basking in the joy of the arrival of the newborns and finally, BABIES!

However, on my first day in the obstetrics ward, what greeted my friends and I was a dismal sight. All the curtains were screened and the different patients were keeping to themselves. They certainly did not look welcoming and friendly, unlike the patients in my other postings. All my anticipation and looking forward towards this posting were dashed.

Over the next few days though, I realized drawn curtains did not mean unfriendly. It just meant that these tired women were exhausted either by their active foetus or by their crying newborns. Another reason was that many women breastfeed their babies and thus, it was more convenient to just leave the curtains drawn rather than screening and unscreening them every 2-3 hours. They were actually quite friendly and happy to share their joy with us; when they delivered, how many children they had, how pretty and handsome their newborn was, how well their child suckled when they breastfed or how much trouble they had when trying to breastfeed etc. Almost all of the mothers were very open too! They allowed us (the students) to be there with them while the breastfeeding nurse taught them breastfeeding. Without their generosity and open minds, we would not have been able to observe breastfeeding live and had to rely on watching videos. Watching the mothers breastfeed their child made me feel that breastfeeding is a natural and beautiful bonding process. THANK YOU to all the mothers who made me realize this!

The posting soon came to an end. Despite what my fellow students said about this obstetrics posting being a boring posting (as we did not have much opportunities to perform obstetrics-related skills), I felt happy and grateful for this posting. This is because I get to observe and learn stuffs too! *happy*

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