I Want to Be a Doctor

Robin: Welcome back to I Want to Be a Doctor or Something. I'm Dr. Robin, and I'm here with my friend Jill, a registered nurse.

Jill: Hi, friends.

Robin: We're two healthcare besties sharing the real, wild, and funny side of medicine for anyone who's thought about a healthcare career. Ready? Let's go.

Robin: So we're at Never Have I Ever again, and Jill, it is your turn to ask me.

Jill: Yeah. So, never have I ever taken a shower during my shift. Have you?

Robin: I have, but nurses are the ones who have the showers at work, right? Like, don't you normally have them?

Jill: Well, yeah, we get patient showers a lot, so... but yeah.

Robin: Did you ever work places where there was, like, a shower in your break room or in some sort of room somewhere where you could get to?

Jill: You know, it's just so different here. So no, no, I didn't.

Jill: So tell me about your experience.

Robin: Yeah, so mine was on labor and delivery. And, you know, as a family medicine resident, we were just running around doing all the things. But one thing you do as a family medicine resident is you deliver babies for any women who come in who don't have a doctor. And so you're just kind of like, whatever comes in, that's your responsibility.

Robin: So we had this woman come in who was traveling with her husband, and so she didn't have a doctor. She was not expecting to go into labor. I guess she was, like, 36 weeks. So, like, it was fine. It wasn't dangerous. It wasn't too early, but she still was not expecting to have the baby quite yet.

Robin: And she was from a culture where being in the hospital and doing kind of the hospital-type thing was not typical. So thankfully I was on call because I was willing to really work with that, and the nurses were like, you know, let's see what we can do to make this work. We lowered the bed as far as we could to the floor, and we let her, of course, be in any position she wanted.

Robin: And this was back before we had tubs. We didn't have anything. It was hospital births with your feet in the stirrups. That's kind of how those went. So I was on the bed with her when she delivered. And, you know, deliveries are kind of messy, right? Like, you know, it's blood, it's poop, it's all this stuff.

Robin: And she was struggling. It was not the easiest delivery. We had a shoulder dystocia, so we were moving her around for that. And it was just—there was a lot happening. By the time we were done, like, I was a mess. Even though I had the gown on, you can't be climbing around in this stuff without just being covered.

Robin: Baby was fine, and one of the other residents on call was taking care of the baby. And the nurses were just like, 'We need to clean you up.' So, you know, discreetly, without doing it in front of the patient or making her feel bad or anything, they put down towels for me to walk along. I walked this path of towels because I was, like, dripping all down the floor.

Robin: The nurses actually had a shower in their area so they could clean up if they needed to. Nothing for the doctors. Like, we weren't supposed to get messy, right? They loaned me everything. They were like, 'Here's our body wash. Here's our shampoo.' They got me clean scrubs. My socks—they lent me a pair of socks. They cleaned up my shoes.

Robin: It was the best shower I ever took, though. It was such a relief to get everything cleaned off, just be all fresh and clean. And then when I was all cleaned up, they had already cleaned up my whole path in there. The towels were gone, and I got to go see Mom and baby.

Robin: And, of course, you know how it is after birth. It's like magic. Everything's going on, and then a few minutes later the nurses have it all tidied up and Mom's tucked in and ready for a picture. It's just like, poof. It's almost like nothing happened here. It's like social media where they snap their fingers, only basically in real life.

Robin: I don't know how nurses do that, but I walked in there and she was all cleaned up, cute little baby in her arms, all swaddled in a little bundle. And, you know, it was so nice seeing that they were happy. They were smiling together. Everything was fine, and I was clean.

Robin: So that was the one time I think I ever took a shower at work. But boy, I needed that shower.

Jill: Yeah, you did. And I'm so glad that the nurses took care of their doctor like that. So yeah, that's awesome.

Jill: Do you remember what it felt like to deliver a baby for the first time?

Robin: Oh, I do. Yeah, I was terrified. Yeah, I know. I was so terrified.

Robin: Did you ever deliver a baby? I know some nurses do, some nurses don't.

Jill: I have. I have helped with several births, and it's really neat to be on the receiving end versus the mom who's giving birth. It's just so cool in either aspect. But yeah, very scared as well. But once the baby was delivered and things like that, like you said, everything becomes beautiful and lovely again. Then it's really neat. But yeah, it's a mix of emotions. You're super excited, but you're also scared, at least at first.

Robin: Yeah. No, I think the first one I delivered was—she'd had, like, 12 babies. She was multiparous, is of course the word, but she'd had a lot of babies, and she was so experienced. And that baby just slid out into my hands.

Robin: And so they were like, 'Here, there's a good one for you to do.' And the mom was like, 'Yeah, I've had a million babies. I don't care who catches them. It's fine.' And I was so scared. This baby just slipped, and they're so slippery. Like, you do not expect—I remember the resident with me was like, 'Just don't let go. Just grab something and don't let go.' But they were standing there with their hands ready, thinking I would drop the baby, which thankfully I didn't. I was not expecting how slippery they were.

Robin: So yeah, that one was nice and easy. But like the one that I was telling you about, shoulder dystocia—for those who don't know—is when the shoulder gets stuck. So you have to reach in and flip the shoulder around. Oftentimes the nurse will push at the top from the belly, so you have to time everything just right. It's very three-dimensional, which—I can't parallel park my car very well. So that was, you know, a project learning all that.

Robin: But then it became just like second nature, where you don't even think about it. Your hands just kind of do it. So to be a family medicine physician, I think we had to deliver a hundred babies. And I met my numbers, like, first year of residency. So, you know, I did a lot more after that. I don't remember how many I got to. I think I was approaching 200, but I delivered a lot of babies.

Jill: Well, I know those moms were very fortunate to have you as their doctor.

Robin: That's really sweet. You know, I don't remember—I don't think any of them remembered me, though. You know, when you go into labor land and it's just like nothing else exists.

Jill: True. It's like—yeah, you're right. I remember that feeling, you know, being in labor, and it's like time just... it stands still, but it's going really fast at the same time. It's really strange.

Robin: Yeah, and nothing else matters. But when I think back to my own labor—I've had two births now—and something I'll tell you about my first one: I had lots of people watching, which was really funny. So that'll be a separate story.

Robin: But my second baby, I actually was in water for that one because we'd gotten to the point where people could actually deliver in water, which was not available with my first. And we were right at the point of delivering, and my midwife said, 'Do you want to catch your baby?' And I was like, 'I mean, why not?'

Robin: And it was weird because I could reach out and feel the head. I just went into it like I'd done it so many times. I automatically felt for the cord. I was like, 'Oh, there's a cord,' flipped it over.

Robin: And then I always had the same things I said, because when you're delivering babies, if you give them the same information each time, then everyone knows what's going on. Because no one else can see, right? Everyone else is around, but you're the only one who can really see what you're doing.

Robin: So we'd always announce—I always said, 'There is, there is, there is.' So it's like, 'Oh, there's a cord. There's a shoulder. There's an elbow. There's a hand.' And everyone knew what that meant. Or, 'There's sunny-side up,' which is what my first one was, which is facing the wrong way.

Robin: So for delivering Elion, it was just like, 'Oh, there's the head. There's the cord. There's the baby,' which is always the last thing I said. And it was so—that's the last baby I delivered. And it was really strange, because that was what I always said, right? It was, 'There's the baby.' And I had said that so many times. And here I was saying it one more time: 'There's the baby.' Like this time it was, you know, Elion.

Robin: And Charlie was watching, and I lifted Elion up out of the water with the midwife's help, probably. I don't remember that part. And Charlie's face was just like, 'Whoa.' Because he'd watched births on YouTube. He knew what to expect, but seeing this baby appear out of the water, I think, was really surprising for him, which my sister had a similar look on her face even though she knew what was going to happen.

Jill: Yeah, it's very surreal. And that's really nice, too, that you let your son, you know, be in there on that special occasion. That's really cool.

Robin: No, it was really cool. And I think it's one reason that Charlie and Elion are so close, is that he was there and felt like he was part of it. And I know that's not always an option, but for us it did work out, which was nice.

Jill: Yeah, I think it's a great, great experience. That's really sweet.

Robin: How about you? How was it for you? Like, delivering—did you have a first delivery experience, or...?

Jill: Yeah, I will never forget my first one. It was just—it was so cool. I was helping in the women's health unit, and I was actually a student, a nursing student, with my first one. And so, you know, the baby, whenever it was being born, it was just—it was so neat to see the actual process, to hear it cry, you know, for the first time. And to see, like, you know, from that perspective, you could look at everybody's face in the room and see just everybody so lit up and, you know, just so fascinated by what just happened. So it was always, you know, just a beautiful experience.

Robin: It really—it surprised me that no matter how many times I did it, it still was always so emotional. Because, you know, here's a person coming. And I think the feelings of everyone in the room, too—it's just so intense. It's one reason I don't like to deliver babies, too, because it's just so intense. And, like, that's a lot to deal with.

Robin: But also it's like such a—magical is the wrong word, because magical sounds like sparkles, right? It's so much more intense to me than magical. It's like a life-changing experience, obviously, because someone just got a baby.

Jill: That's true. That's probably the best way to describe it.

Robin: Yeah, there's no great word. Surreal is the one that I usually say, but yeah, that still doesn't seem appropriate.

Robin: Yeah, no, having them—like, and the fact they go from aquatic creatures to breathing air, and there's just so much that happens just in those few moments. And as a family physician, we deal with things that take decades. And so something where everything happens in that moment, to me, was just like—it all comes down to this point. It's so much. And amazing and wonderful, and also more than I could emotionally handle for the rest of my life.

Jill: That's right. That's right.

Robin: Well, and now we've both tried it from both sides, which is also cool.

Jill: It is very cool.

Robin: Well, I think we are all out of time. So that's it for today. If you want to be a doctor or something else healthcare-related, head over to docrobinschool.com/podcast. That's D-O-C, Robin-like-the-bird, school.com for your goodies.

Jill: Yeah, and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the next episode.

Robin: Thanks so much for watching. Bye-bye.

Jill: Bye, friends.