A Stork Visited the E.R.

At night, if a pregnant person in labor comes to the E.R. they're immediately taken up to the obstetrics unit, for obvious reasons. Last night, we received a paramedic call stating they were bringing in a 17 year old female in her second trimester with labor pain and fetal parts presenting. As soon as they came to our door, I asked if they could be immediately taken to obstetrics. One nurse, Drew, snapped me to my senses and told me I should take a quick look before she went to the elevator, just to make sure immediate action wasn't required.

As we were wheeling her stretcher into one of the resuscitations bays, the patient let out one loud, long scream. I pulled back the sheet and saw the entire head of a full term baby exiting our patient (looks like someone got their dates wrong). By the way, I hadn't delivered a baby since I was in medical school (roughly 1999), and that was under someone's supervision. I took one deep breath to prepare for the procedure, and then the patient gave one push and the rest of a full term baby boy came out (what a relief!)

The E.R. staff and I spent the following minutes giving each other high-fives and gushing over the newborn. One of the nurses, Christina, got to cut the cord. I told her "whoever cuts the cord pays for college." I turned to the new 17 year old mother and cheerfully asked if she was ready for the baby, and she gave me a look of horror and shock. I guess this wasn't how she pictured delivering her firstborn.

The entire staff was cheerful for the rest of the shift. We deal with so many drunks and psychotics attacking and cursing us, that it was nice to have a baby's birth to re-energize us.