Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Dreaded

A 25 year old female came in with her husband.  She was 26 weeks pregnant with her first child and had been ill with a viral illness for 3 days.  She had not felt her baby move for 12 hours.  Go directly to the nearest ER if you are too scared to monitor this yourself at home per OB on-call; we are too busy in labor and delivery.

Ah, geeze.  Why do they come to my ER with no ultrasound available at night?  I. Do. NOT. Like. Pregnancy. Related. Stuff.......Seriously, it gives me agita.

"OK.  I am going to listen to your baby's heartbeat.  This is not my best skill because I don't do it all the time, so PLEASE don't be scared if I don't find it right away, mmmm-kay?"

EDNurseasauras goops up the wand, places Doppler on mom's belly and gets......

Beep!  Beep!  Beep!  Beep!  Beep!  I know with absolute certainty that it is neither the mother's pulse nor mine.

"There it is, your baby's heartbeat!", I say with relief.

Mom: "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I was so scared!"

Me too, sweetie.  Me too.

6 comments:

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

Deep sigh of relief.

We lost our baby this spring. My daughter was 17 1/2 weeks along when her cervix gave way and at 137 grams he was just so tiny and perfect yet way way way too little to even consider survival. It was incredibly sad and I am still unable to write about it without weeping.

I am so very glad that you were able to hear that heartbeat.

EDNurseasauras said...

Lynda I am so sorry for your loss.

ob said...

And. I. Like. Pregnancy. Stuff. Can't you talk the bosses into buying ya'll a cheap sono unit?

EDNurseasauras said...

Lord, no, it would be like a tractor beam for pregnant women! Then i would be forced to work at Chile's......

Lane said...

I've been reading backward for the last day and a half and while I've yet to read an entry that I didn't like, this one by far is my favorite. You're my new Internet crush, EDNurseasaurus.

EDNurseasauras said...

Oh, that's so nice! Thank you!