Happy New Year

The holidays were fun. I shall not get any more such holidays for a long time, and I had a grand time. Half the day would be spent sleeping, and the other half was devoted to the TV and eating. It was as hot as the inside of a sauna (some people tell me winters are cold. I refuse to believe them.), but too cold to bathe. I didn’t really want to, but my mom would threaten to switch off the TV if I didn’t take a bath, (she said she enjoyed breathing- I wonder what she meant by that) so I missed 3 minutes of the 47^th rerun of the Friends episode where Chandler and Monica try to get their engagement picture taken. This, my 21st winter, was abominably hot. I've never had a cold winter in my life.

I read Along Came a Spider, and First to Die, and discovered that I prefer the simplicity of the Queen of Crime. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that so many of my favourite authors are British. I blame Enid Blyton. And Burnett, and Nesbit, and Crompton, and Lewis, and Carroll, and oh, what the hell, Rowling. I haven't read many American books from that period (which is the pre-electricity period, in my head, because no one says "It's so hot, switch on the fan" in them), except for the Anne series, and that is Canadian. I thought Patterson convoluted the plto so much he forgot to tie up the loose ends.

Officially, we had only three days off for Christmas, and were supposed to report back on Thursday. The holidays were unofficially extended by us students, and we went back only today. I must admit that I missed my routine a little, but not so much so that I jumped out of bed eager to rush off to college.

Obstetrics stinks. The whole place does. The rest of the doctors decided that they had to do something about the smell, and built a separate hospital for the Ob-Gs. The Paediatricians couldn’t bear to stop fighting with the Obstetricians, and went along. Thus, we have a separate Mother & Baby hospital. It is a very cheerful place that greets you with the floral odour of amniotic fluid the second you set foot through the door. The total absence of windows in the buildings is in keeping with the pleasant atmosphere.

The Ob-G nightmare began in 4^th semester, and it still makes me wake up screaming in the middle of the night. It is one of our least favourite subjects, and there are plenty of Ob-G jokes.
A patient was in the early stages of labour, and it was proceeding satisfactorily. The obstetrician decides to take a break, and asks the duty house surgeon to keep a watch on the perineum. The housie promptly takes off his wrist watch and places it on the patient’s perineum.

I have 3 more weeks left in Obstetrics, and sadly, it’s going to be a case of from the frying pan into the fire- I am to join the slave corps in the labour room for my last clinical posting this semester.

A new year brings new hope, yada yada yada. It’s OT day tomorrow, and I’m going to be looking at Caesarean sections. What can give more hope than babies? Speaking of babies, my cousin gave birth to twins last week- a girl and a boy!

Have a great 2008, all.