Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Late Night Delivery

I didn't expect to be writing now, but I'm compelled to do so because of a cool thing that has only happened to me one other time during my EMS career: I delivered a baby earlier this evening. A healthy boy, approximately 7 lbs. in weight. All extremities present (including the outdoor plumbing :-), APGAR of 8 at 1 minute and 10 at 5 minutes. Mother and baby are doing just fine. What was especially interesting is that there was a language barrier; family is from Somalia, and this is a common problem in our fair city. However, we were able to work with it this time, and we got through everything we needed to. Everything turned out okay.

Kind of a funny story behind it, however. We got the call, and we got there at the same time the Engine company got there. My friend Andy, otherwise known as Sippy because of his ears (they look like jug handles), was on the pump, and ultimately he was a huge help to me. When we found the right apartment in the building we went to, I found Mom on the living room floor, hips up, looking like she'd been working for a while. I found out that her water broke at around 8:00PM, and we got called at just after 11:00. They had 911 on the phone with an interpreter, and in talking with her we found out that she needed to push. I took a look and discovered that she was crowning - delivery was pretty imminent. So I got a childbirth kit from the ambulance and went back in. The Lieutenant on the pump asked me if I wanted the stretcher, and all I said was that it would be a minute or two before we'd be bringing her out.

We got set up as best we could and I got positioned to catch the baby. It was like clockwork; within 3-4 minutes and two good pushes, the baby was born. He started moving and crying right after I suctioned out his mouth and nose. We dried him off and wrapped him up, took care of Mom and got her packaged to go to the hospital. Headed out a few minutes after that and went directly to Labor and Delivery.

Welcome to the world, kiddo.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice...
JT

Anonymous said...

COOL! Happy for you and since I dont care for pedi calls I am glad mine was a G6 P6 and popped right out. Out of the only calls I would not care for would be a problematic child birth. Too bad they cant all be like my awesome dog Lady who is G16 P16 (2 births of 8) and I did not have to do a thing! I had mine at 17 as a green EMT and have not had one since. Maybe you can tell us why there is an influx of Somalians in NH and how you get translators at your dispatch centers. PS, I found the CCEMT-P stuff in the archives ;) It was VERY helpful thanks!(from my comment in the "Rev." Al in Wonderland post).