Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh

It has been since before new years that I scrubbed in on a section; so, I went in this morning to scrub for 2 c-sections. I was worried about going over a month and forgetting everything I had learned.

It was a good thing for me to do... I remembered most everything, but was a little rusty in the beginning.

I had the same doctor for both. During the first section, after delivery of the baby, I un-capped the TB syringe and handed it to the Dr. to draw up cord blood. I then set the cap down in the placenta pan. He ever so gently and correctly instructs me to simply toss it off the field so there is no chance of it coming out of the pan and being lost in the patient....as the cap is not a part of our count. I say, "Oh, Ok. That's a good point." So, I hand him the second syringe and appropriately toss the cap off the field towards the garbage. The rest of the surgery moves along fine...

Next surgery: Remembering the teaching from the first section, after the delivery of the baby, I pulled off the cap of the cord blood syringe (or what I thought was the cap) and tossed it off the field. I hand the Dr. the syringe and look down at it. I had pulled off the entire needle with the cap and promptly tossed the needle off of the field!! He looked straight in my eyes and just laughed. I chuckled too... and just said, "I tossed the needle off of the field."

The circulating nurse quickly supplied us with a new syringe WITH needle attached.

But, seriously, a dozen different doctors would have handled that a dozen different ways. I was incredibly lucky that today this particular dr. just decided to laugh.

Counting my blessings today..... Afterall, it was funny.