OtterPaws Presents: Student Paramedic Flashback Episode 1 - Maternity

Hi Everyone, apologies for the delay in posting.  Been a lot going on with work and the lead up to Christmas.  Also taken a bit of a time out to work on myself.  On the subject of Christmas, I thought I'd post about something a bit more cheery as we go into the festive period.

This episode is the first of many to come that will look back at previous cases I was involved in as part of my student paramedic days - before illness put to end that career path.  As it's Christmas, I'll look back at a happier job compared to my previous posts.

The way it works is Ambulances have a centre console with a screen where crews can see what job they have been allocated along with any updates from control as details develop from the caller.  A satellite navigation system is also there to direct us to the address of the emergency.

The Job

As I was leaving hospital, I was driving along when an alert popped through for the next job.  Job category was listed as maternity - which instantly scared the shit out of me.  The issue with maternity jobs is Ambulances have all the equipment available to monitor people, provide medications, treatment etc. But they're not really well equipped for younger patients - especially newly born or neonatal patients.  So the scary thing about maternity is the mother can be monitored, but heaven knows what the baby will be like unless it's born.  Ambulances have no equipment to monitor a foetus.

Anyway I just stuck the blues on and bombed it as fast as it was safe to do so.  I was almost physically shaking with nerves just because of the nature of the job.  As I was driving to the incident, an update from control came through to say the baby's head was visible...  Meaning that labour was quite obviously rapidly progressing - to the point where the Dad to be had to pull over on the side of the road and tend to the Mom to be.

As the car became visible on the side of the road, a final alert came through to say the baby had been born in the car.  A relief in some ways, but until we arrived about 20 seconds later, we still had no idea what the condition of the mother or baby was like.  On arrival, we could hear the baby crying which was a massive relief.  The worst thing imaginable on a job like that is a silent baby.

The monitor and maternity pack were taken to the vehicle and both mother and baby were assessed. A second crew did come and back us up to assist.  Fortunately, the baby appeared reasonably healthy.  We could tell this using a tool called the APGAR tool.

Important! The APGAR Scale consists of:

Appearance - Especially Skin Colour

Pulse - Should be above 100bpm

Grimace - The baby's response to stimulant.  Ideally crying and coughing should occur

Activity - Muscle tone and movement of limbs

Respiration - Normal effort and good crying.

The maternity pack consists of towels to help dry and stimulate the baby, a nappy, a hat and scissors to cut the umbilical cord amongst other items.  Towels were used to dry the baby and the hat was placed on the baby.

Important! It is always advisable to wear the hat as babies lose most of their body heat through their head.

Babies have a very weak immune system due to their lack of exposure to the world.  Therefore it is important to be as sterile as possible to minimize risk of infection to the baby.

Both the mother and baby were absolutely fine and in a career where you see a lot of life taken away from the world, it felt so good to actually welcome life into the world for a change.  Both mother and baby were blue lighted to hospital to ensure they remained stable. 

Thought it would be nice in the lead up to Christmas to look back on something happy.

Things to Take Away:

1. Maternity is definitely scary in an out of hospital environment.

2. Cover a baby's head to reduce body heat loss.  Skin to skin contact is also beneficial

3. Use the APGAR chart to assess a newborn's condition.

4. Parameters are different between adults, children and neonates.  Refer to each guide appropriately.

5. Be more sterile with babies due to their low immune system.

6. Healthcare isn't just full of death, it has life too.

Until next time, have a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year