Rough Arrival

All seemed quiet at the hospital on that Friday afternoon.

We two OR nurses were on call for the weekend, so we had checked with all the units before we left our hospital. Everything was quiet, so it was a good time to buy groceries or run errands, because the weekend could have us in the OR for hours. (Busy working mothers have to take advantage of any and all time available to them!)

Half an hour later, with my cart full of groceries, my beeper started that annoying, high-pitched beep that those old beepers had. The message just said, "Call supervisor immediately – Emergency!" I called the supervisor who was in a state of high anxiety.

"Just get here," she said, "we have an emergency, a cesarean section. Hurry!"

This was surprising. Our obstetrical department had closed a year ago, and there was nothing going on an hour ago, so what was the story here? I deserted my grocery cart, jumped into my car, and headed for the hospital, my mind going through the instrumentation for a c-section.

My partner arrived the same time as I, and we just went into work mode, hardly taking time to speak. The supervisor called to see if we were ready. It was then she told us the drama that had been unfolding from the time we left the hospital.

We worked at a Hants Community Hospital in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Windsor was known as the "Gateway to the Valley" – the Annapolis Valley, with all its apples and beautiful gardens. But today was not a good day for the Valley, or for the mother-to-be that had a baby in obvious distress.

The mother-to-be's hometown was Middleton, which had no surgeon available. The town of Berwick, 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Middleton, was contacted, but their surgeon was in the middle of an emergency case, so they couldn't take her. The decision was made to get the patient rapidly to the province's maternity referral hospital, Grace Hospital, located in Halifax, 161 kilometers (100 miles) away.

The doctor was accompanying the patient, as were a nurse and a paramedic. As they approached Kentville, 55 kilometers (34 miles) out of Middleton, the baby's heartbeat became dangerously low, so Kentville Hospital was contacted. But no, they could not be of assistance, because their surgeon had just cut himself badly with a lawnmower, and no other surgeon was available.

So the doctor contacted Hants Community Hospital, our hospital, located another 43 kilometers (27 miles) past Kentville. Yes, we did have a surgeon who was available and skilled in the c-section area, and yes, they could bring their patient to us.

So on Highway 101, five minutes from Windsor, they let us know they would be there in a few minutes, and the patient needed to go straight to the OR.

We were ready! Feeling the need to stick with the patient with whom she was sharing such a harrowing experience, and with whom she had bonded, the nurse came to the OR with the patient.

After five long, anxious minutes, a healthy baby boy was born.

I wonder about that baby sometimes now. He would be 15 years old, and probably has been told the details of his fast ride through the Valley. I imagine he is told the story every year on his birthday.

And one thing for sure, he doesn't know that we think of him, and the awful predicament his mother was in that day, and how gratifying it was to know that a little rural hospital could play such a great role in helping him enter this world – all 10 pounds of him!

Discuss This Article

Have something you'd like to say? Tell us what you think! Read and post comments for this article.

Find a Job

Choose your career:

MedHunters is the world's biggest healthcare job board. Our job directory has 17,872 jobs with 2,484 hospitals and other direct employers.

We want you to find your next job on MedHunters. Need Help? Call us at 1-888-884-8242, email us at info@medhunters.com or sign up now.