I awoke at 7am to the sounds of the early birds getting up and having breakfast before their early bus left, mine didn't leave until 9am so I had a cruisy morning hanging out. Then I caught a 30 minute bus ride to Narkormping Hospital (in my blue scrubs) just North of Chiang Mai where I met an Obstetrician/Gynecologist who showed me and five other girls doing the same placement the different wards in hospital, prenatal, the birth rooms and where the mothers and babies go after the birth. We were then told that there was a cesarean booked in for 10.30am so we changed into green scrubs and green hairnets and nose and mouth masks and headed into the Operating Theatre (OT) where the woman had received an epidural and was connected to all sorts of machines and drips. The reason she was having a c-section was because she had previously had many operations on her stomach and it could potentially cause eruptions and re-open scar tissue if she tried giving birth naturally. So she had an incision in line with her pelvis bones and after cutting through layers of tissue we finally saw the a little head poke through, within seconds a little baby boy was born, and soon after the placenta. The baby was checked and mucus was pumped from it's lungs so that he could breath, and he soon let us know that he was alive and well by bellowing from his little lungs. He was shown to his mother before being wrapped up like a parcel and taken into a different ward while the mother was being stitched back up. (Such neat and clean stitching) I had many mixed feelings about this operation, I knew that for both the mother and babies safety that it was necessary for her to have a cesarean, however it seemed like she wasn't empowered about 'giving birth', she wasn't in any way actively involved in the birth of her baby, it was very impersonal with the doctor answering her phone mid way through the surgery. But the mother gave me a weak smile as she was wheeled into a ward after the birth, which made me feel better.

Next we were given the opportunity of watching the 'sterilisation' of a woman, which is a procedure that involves trying and cutting the fallopian tubes so that the woman can no longer have children. The operation is reversible, however there is no guarantee that the fallopian tubes will ever be in full working order again. After talking to the doctor I found out that this procedure what a very common way of contraceptives here in Thailand which I found very interesting and was slightly discouraged by, I mean how hard is it to use other contraceptives! However the surgery only took 20 minutes and involved making an incision about one inch long just under the bellybutton and using a hook to pull the fallopian tubes to the opening before tying medical 'string' around them and cutting them, the fallopian tubes were then placed back inside the woman's body before she was stitched back up again.

Because Monday's are only a half-day we had the rest of the day to choose what activities we wanted to do. First we all went to lunch together and then some people went to the zoo, bungee jumping, markets, temples, lion kingdom etc. The people who arrived yesterday with me however, went to a market that sold practically everything under the sun, then to an umbrella factory where we watched handmade umbrellas being created from bamboo, string, handmade paper and were then painted. That was pretty interesting and they were really beautiful as well. We then headed to the shopping centre for everyone to get sim cards, snacks etc, before heading back to the house for a well deserved swim in our pool and a rest before dinner!