First Call

Tonight I got called to the Salle de Urgence for a one month old baby who had been brought in having serious problems. She was already getting cold (at least her hands and feet were) and she was breathing about once every 10 seconds when I got there. I sent Papa Leonard to Maternity to get an infant BVM because we didn’t have any in the Emergency area. I got someone to go for Dr. Loes, surprised that they hadn’t called him first, and then I attended to the baby. Unfortunately the only airways available were the wrong size. Thankfully Paige was there with me to help, and Esther had come as well. They were both great. Even after bagging for a while and repositioning the baby, it was pretty obvious that nothing was going to make a difference.

We prayed for the baby and then I explained to the mom as gently as possible that the baby probably wasn’t going to survive, and if she’d like to hold her baby. Perfectly quiet but with tears streaming down her face she held her baby girl for the last few minutes, then Dr. Loes suggested we remove the oxygen and IV so we did. Around this time the wailing started. One girl threw herself on the floor screaming and crying. Everyone around us started to cry, and we quietly slipped out. After I gave Chaldie my phone number so she could call me during the night, the three of us walked back to the house in silence.