It's a Boy!

Today was my last day at Janet for the week because tomorrow I will be visiting two schools here in Trichy! But I will get to those at the end. Also, I forgot my notebook with ALL of my notes in Dr. Victoria's office so I'm going to try to pull all of this from memory which probably isn't going to go very well... So here goes nothing. 

The morning at Janet wasn't too interesting since I wasn't able to go on rounds with Dr. Victoria since she was already out by the time I got there. So for the most part I just sat and listening this morning, but the afternoon was definitely a lot more interesting! I met a woman who had been pregnant with triplets due to fertility drugs. But because having triplets isn't very safe and usually leads to preterm birth, they reduced the pregnancy to twins. The pregnancy was still very early along and they were actually able to do it via ultrasound. Another interesting case I saw was a woman who had had two spontaneous abortions. The abortions were recurrent (and often are) in consanguineous marriages (or marriages between people who are blood related). This woman was married to her maternal uncle, her mother's brother. Apparently this used to be very common in India because it may be more favorable for the woman's status, including the better relationship with her in-laws. These types of marriages are becoming less likely since people are becoming more aware of the side effects associated with the pregnancies. Pretty crazy... 

I also had a few conversations with Dr. Victoria and some of the girls today. We talked some about earrings (which I learned the Tamil word for and wrote down in my notebook, of course) and Dr. Victoria asked me if I wore earrings at home. I told her yes, and she proceeded to ask if I wore such big earrings at home. I thought that was a funny question since the answer is definitely no! We also talked about the antenatal pregnancy information sheet that all of the women fill out. One interesting thing I learned was the obstetric formula. The formula includes gravida, para, live, and abortion. Gravida is the total number of pregnancies of any sort. Para is the total number of pregnancies that progress past seven months. Live is the number of living children and abortion is the number of previous abortions (usually spontaneous and occur within the first few months). So if a woman had 3 pregnancies (including the current one), one still birth, and one living child, her formula would be: gravia 3, para 2, live 1, abortion 0. I thought that was pretty interesting to learn. Dr. Victoria said that formula was something everybody in the medical field needed to know, so it's a good thing I learned! 

I ended my day at the clinic on a very, very happy note! I was preparing to leave the clinic around 3:50 when Dr. Victoria and one of her assistants, Rahila, ran out of the room for a delivery, so I followed! I got to see a very quick delivery of a little boy! And when I say little, I mean it! He was only 2.1 kg, or 4.6 lbs! But he was absolutely precious and what made the birth even better was Rahila's face. She was so genuinely happy and excited and was telling me how she couldn't wait to have a baby. It was so precious. Rahila is in her mid-early-twenties and is getting married in July, so that may not be far-fetched for her. It was really sweet to see her reactions to the little guy and it was definitely a sweet ending to a long day!

So like I said, tomorrow I will be visiting two schools. The first school is called the Balalaya School which is just a general school with a small population of students with special needs. The second school is called the Dolphin School which is a school dedicated entirely to children with special needs. I am very, very excited to spend four hours in these schools tomorrow and I can't wait to share my experiences! Honestly, I think spending time with a group of children that I have such a passion for is going to top off my week with a big cherry! 

Until tomorrow, 

Marissa