Hello world!

I met someone recently, and when I told her where I worked, she said, "Wow, you must have seen hundreds of deliveries!"

While definitely not the case, witnessing deliveries take place and seeing babies in their first moments of life definitely rank high in my long list of memorable moments here at LSH.

In the first c-section I observed, I stood in awe as Dr. Vasantha, our first doctor at LSH, pull the baby out of his mother's womb... all the while clutching for dear life to his umbilical cord!

In each of the two I observed this week, I learned more and more about the medical aspects of c-sections and deliveries (albeit from a very low base!) The baby girl I saw was incredibly active from the get-go. When the doctor placed oxygen over her head, she kept clutching the sides of the oxygen tent, opening and shutting her hands, and kicking her legs and feet. She reminded me of the baby boy I saw in rural Jharkhand, who at ten minutes old, kept kicking his blanket off as though to say: "Let me out in the world! I'm ready!"

The most incredible moment is seeing the newborns blink their eyes, and slowly start to open them. Witnessing that moment feels like such a miracle to me. You just wonder what they're seeing and thinking -- and how different their lives were just five minutes before.

I also love watching the pediatrician wrap up the baby and take it to its new family -- the happiness of the grandmother, and the awkwardness of the new father.

This morning, I observed my first normal delivery, performed by Dr. Radhika. Let's just say I have a new-found respect for all mothers out there!

Some pictures of the c-section baby I met this week, at about five minutes old:

Tiny fingers!! The baby weighed 2.7 kgs. She is the second child of her mother, who delivered her first at Gandhi Government Hospital.

This baby could not stop moving!! -- constantly moving her arms and legs, and looking all around the room, trying to make sense of her new world.