delivery #11...HIV mom

today i was in the labour room for the first time in 2 weeks as we are on rotation in between ICU (intensive care unit) ANC (antenatal care) and labour room. i had my 11th delivery! it was pretty quick but i came to the mom after i had been checking on a few moms around the room. some of the girls told me they saw a head coming. we asked if it was her first child and she said yes. we could'nt find her card anywhere which tells us important information like her age..if she is married..and most importantly if she has HIV, its code word... PMTCT 1.

knowing that it was her first, i knew she would be awhile. so i went ahead and began to stretch the perineum and praying that there would be no tearing. its not always the doctor or midwife's fault if she does tear. there are many reasons as to why women tear...small perineum, malnutrition, etc.

the mother was very tired and barely had energy to push. so they gave her oxytocin in her drip. she was very close and the baby was taking awhile to come out. babies heart rate was low at this point, but the baby finally came out! A baby girl! i put the baby on the mothers stomach and it was very limp and not breathing .. we rubbed its back to stimulate breathing and used the bulb suction to remove anything blocking the airways. she finally started breathing.. amy took the baby away to do check ups and i remained with the mom to deliver the placenta.

i was pulling on the chord but it was resistant and not coming. so bek came and pulled on it harder but the chord began to rip where we were pulling and blood started squirting all over our arms, we had to cover and reclamp to stop the bleeding..it was a bloody mess. since we already gave the mother oxytocin it should take at the most 15 minutes for the placenta to come out and it wasn't budging. realizing it was a retained placenta, and the cervix was closing we needed to take immediate action. when this happens, it is necessary to do manual removal. one of the nurses came over and stuck her hand in to do it because it is fairly challenging to do. it was painful to watch the nurse pull and tug, but she was finally able to get it out. i checked the placenta by holding it in both hands as we are supposed to do to make sure everything is present. while i was checking the placenta, the doctor who was fixing her IV told me he just told him she had HIV.
yes...we find this out after blood had squirted all over our arms, after i had checked the bloody placenta... and had been in contact with lots of blood. Bek and i both got prayer for protection.
i did vitals on the mom and baby and although the mom had a retained placenta and the baby was crying lots and lots and lots...they were both doing great. please keep the baby and the mother in your prayers as the mother might still have bleeding in the next few weeks because of retained placenta and the baby seemed like it was starting to run a fever.

oh yeah....and i found her card in ANC 5 minutes before we were left and the situation with not knowing important information like if she was HIV-pos could have been avoided if the nurses transferred her with her card.


i crocheted the hat for her..i think she liked it