Catheters and Cauliflower

The doctor comes into the room, takes off her jacket, and practically rolls up her sleeves as she sits on the bed with Sam. A woman on a mission.

It's been an hour-and-half since the failed attempt to put in the catheter. An experience bad enough that Sam was talking about just telling them to do a Cesarean section.

The doctor casually mentions the baby's been in there long enough and we need to get this going. While she's talking she's opened up the fresh catheter kit, prepared everything, and is ready to get to business. As soon as the current contraction ends.

"Deep breath!", the doctor instructs Sam as she gets to work. A couple of painful noises later and the job is done. The rest of us are surprised it was so easy. Well, a 5 on a scale of 1 - 10 compared to the first attempt anyway.

As she's cleaning up, the doctor casually mentions that Sam is 2cm now, lets us know the doctor's name who is on call after 5pm today, then grabs her coat and is gone. Mission accomplished. Though, having a roomy 2cm to play with is like pulling a thread through a hula hoop compared to when the nurse attempted it.

The difference in Sam was night and day. She had her normal color, was talking and moving normally, and didn't complain about any lingering pain. Relief.

Sam's lunch was brought in while we were waiting for the doctor to arrive and I didn't want to leave and not be with her during the next attempt. Now that this is over I head down to the cafeteria to see if they have anything appetizing.

It was a hard choice between cauliflower shawarma or spicy potatoes with cauliflower and rice.

I went for the potatoes, and yes, the cauliflower was delicious.