Another Late Night

Tonight was a great night…It started out with me taking coffee to the night shift, and then I checked in on my people in Maternite, and the girl who had come in yesterday was still there. I thought for sure she would have delivered by now, but it was her first baby - so not super unusual to have a long labor.

I knew the midwife on night shift would need help - so I decided to stay for the baby. After about three more hours, her contractions were slowing down and almost came to a stop, but she was fully dilated. We gave her IV fluids and put her on an oxytocin drip and I kept checking the baby’s heart rate. I started to get nervous as the heart rate gradually dropped lower and lower. When the heart rate dropped too low, we called the nursing supervisor to come in. We couldn’t get him on the radio, so we called Hannah, who brought my phone over and then we called him. He came in a bit and almost as soon as he got there he started trying to get the surgery team together for a C-section. Meanwhile, we started another IV, put a catheter in and took the lady to the Bloc.

By the time we all got there, changed into Bloc scrubs and had everything ready, the rest of the team arrived. We prayed and got started. I had all my stuff prepped and ready to receive the baby - since I was  the receiving nurse from Maternite. Medications, oxygen, BVM, etc. I was expecting the worst. I think we all were. I was terribly nervous.

Then most amazing thing happened - the baby came out crying loudly and breathing. I was so amazed and thankful. It was a complete miracle. We were all thankful. The best part of the night was going out with the baby and meeting the dad outside, and getting to present to him his firstborn son. All he said was, “Thank you Lord!”

We ended the night around 12:00am with getting the mom and baby settled, praying with the family and thanking God for His mercy.