Biting My Tongue

You know when you say that something has never happened and then a few minutes later it happens and you wonder if it happened simply because you said it....well that happened to me 3 times today and they were all very interesting experiences on my second to last day on L and D.

1. Power Outage- Today we had a power outage in the entire hospital so everything was running on emergency generators. It wasn't a severe situation because crucial things like ventilators and OR lights still worked but the entire computer system was down. It was ironic because I had JUST been talking to my mentor about how I can't imagine ever doing paper charting because everything is so much easier on the computer, etc. Well, of course the power goes out and we have to spend the next 6 hours paper charting which is just more time consuming and unfamiliar. However compared to my next 2 situations this wasn't too bad...

2. Baby in the Bed- My mentor and some other nurses were joking the other day about how if the doctor didn't come quick enough a patient was going to deliver the baby without him. I asked T if this had ever happened and she said that every L and D nurse has delivered a baby at some point because sometimes a patient pushes and the baby just comes out easily without time for the doctor to arrive... Well, I didn't think I would ever see this but today a nurse said she was going to go check her patient and I went with her because I wasn't doing anything and we walk in the room and this patient was laying in the bed and there is a crying baby between her legs, umbilical cord still attached and all! Unfortunately this patient was from Burma so we couldn't really communicate with her but the nurse essentially clamped the cord, had the dad cut it and I brought the baby over to the table and did what we normally do. The funny thing was that not one person in the room changed their facial expression during this entire situation! They just watched as this occurred as if this is what happens all of the time (but hey, I've never been to Burma...)

3. 22 Weeks- This last situation was ironic but also very sad. I had an "extern update" lunch with the other girls in my program and I was telling them all how I love L and D, how many exciting things I've seen and how I hadn't encountered anything sad yet. Of course, the second I get back to the floor, T tells me that we have a pre term labor patient who is going to deliver at 22 weeks. At 22 weeks there is no chance of the baby surviving past a few hours so they don't even try to resuscitate it when it is delivered. This girl was 17 years old and woke up this morning with abdominal pain, came to the hospital, found this out and delivered 30 minutes later. I can't imagine what that would feel like to have such a 180 degree change in one day. When she delivered it was such a different feel compared to all of the other births because everyone was just silent when the baby arrived. She weighed only 1 pound and was so so tiny. The family was able to hold the baby for a few hours while we got her ready to be discharged and their grief was so obvious and heavy that it was hard to see. We took the baby for a little while into the bereavement room and took pictures of her in a tiny dress, took her footprints and compiled a memory box for the mom. It was so strange to hold the baby and take her pictures but when we gave the memory box to the mom upon discharge you could tell that it was going to help give her closure. While this was obviously a hard day, I know that this comes with the territory of L and D and I'm grateful I was able to experience it before I left the floor.

So, today had it's ups and downs but the moral of the story is be careful what you say because life has a funny way of teaching you lessons. I can't wait to see what my last day on L and D has in store for me tomorrow!!