Adventures in Nursing, Part 7

I have been having a lot of trouble lately coming up with exciting things to write about. Our lives just haven't been that thrilling lately. However, at my office, we do have a nurse practitioner student who is working with us now, who also happens to be a labor and delivery nurse. She is really nice and we fall into patterns of talking about old war stories every time she comes in. The other day we were talking, and I remembered this tale. I realized today that I had neglected to share it in my Adventures in Nursing series. So, I have resurrected the series and will share this tale and hopefully a few more if my memory will work with me...

LIFE IS A HIGHWAY

When I worked in Minnesota, it was very cold. I mean, very, very cold. One night in February when it was about -15 degrees outside, we got a call in L&D to come down to the ER because this woman had delivered. One other nurse and I grabbed some blankets, bulb suction and cord clamps and ran downstairs. When we got to the ER, there was this woman wearing a t-shirt and really stretchy pants lying on the stretcher with a baby lying between her legs. The ER nurses were starting IVs on the woman and trying to get her into a gown. The baby, was laying there, practically blue and cold as can be.

Apparently, this woman had gone into labor and decided to drive herself into the hospital so as not to disturb her husband or her four children. On the way in, she stated that she felt the urge to push. Did she pull over or drive faster? Nope. She just delivered her baby...while driving...with her pants on...ON THE HIGHWAY! Then, once the baby dropped out of her pants leg onto the floorboard, she picked it up and sat it on the bench seat next to her (She drove an old pickup) and continued her drive into the hospital. Once she got into the driveway of the ER, she tried to call a security guard over to help her. He thought she might be crazy so was reluctant to come over and help. Then he heard the baby crying from the truck and walked over. He saw the baby and ran inside to get help. My favorite part of all of this was that the baby came into the world and wasn't held or even given a cover of some kind. Then the ER was so concerned about the mother that they were completely ignored the baby. That baby was alive for about 20 minutes before anyone gave it any attention. Plus, the baby was freezing! Um, it was -15 and no one could even bother to give that baby a blanket or wipe off the amniotic fluid. The baby was fine after I cleaned him off, bundled him up and rushed him up to the nursery where he was promptly placed under a warmer.

Poor baby. It would be nice if when you were born, somebody at least said "Hello". Luckily, the baby did not suffer any ill effects. And this story was not meant to make the ER people seem incompetent. We all have our areas and most ER people react the same way to a pregnant woman as I would to someone in cardiac arrest. It is just sheer panic when you are outside of the norm. They did a great job taking care of mom and to their credit, the patient didn't reveal that she had just stuck the baby on the seat next to her until we were down there and taking over the situation. I will be the first to say that I am not good in most nursing crises beside a baby being delivered and, now that I am office bound, probably not even that. Well, hope you have enjoyed this tale and I will try to rack my brain for a few more interesting adventures to share.