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.
