Time Of Birth

Some calls are good calls. Few of what many of us in emergency services would call a 'good call' are good for the person calling 911. Good calls to us tend to be on the more serious side. Ones where we may actually make a difference between life and death or one where we use some of the technical skills that we have developed to mitigate the negative circumstances. But every once in a while you get a really good call.

We pulled onto the street with lights blinking and siren wailing. Dispatch informed us that we were responding for a 25 year old woman in active labor. A minute before we pulled up to the house the radio crackled again, "Truck 51, Medic 422, the baby has been born. Time of birth, 0857 hours."

We walked in the house which was bustling with activity. Grandma was there trying to keep the two siblings out from under our feet. There was another woman there who may have been the sister of the mother.

We found mom laying on the bloody bathroom floor with her baby in her arms. The newborn was wrapped in a receiving blanket and a couple of towels. I check of the baby found him to be in good shape. His initial APGAR was 8 with the repeat 5 minutes later being a 10.

We clamped the umbilical cord and cut it. My partner then took the baby into the next room while I helped the AMR crew get the mom onto the gurney. Once she was settled in the baby was again given back to her.

The mom was going to call the father (who was at work) to let him know of the birth from the back of the ambulance. That would have been a fun conversation on which to eavesdrop....Hey honey, guess what.....