Breach

From James:

I didn't realize it was urgent till I burst through the door into labor and delivery.

I knew the woman in labor had a fetus in the breech position with one foot wanting to come out first. I'd told the midwife to alert me when she was completely dilated so I could assist the delivery.

Sarah came and told me that the woman was about to deliver so I wandered back over to the hospital.

When I opened the door, I sized up the situation instantly and sprang into action.

I saw a woman lying on metal table with her legs spread apart and coming out of her was an abdomen with two legs attached, flopping down onto the bed. No arms or head was visible. My first thought was gloves but as I reached for the ones I'd washed and hung to dry earlier I realized they were still too moist to get on quickly so I dove in with my bare hands.

When the baby comes out feet first it's very important that she deliver quickly because if not the umbilical cord coming out of the abdomen will be compressed by the fetal head blocking off the blood circulation and its crucial supply of oxygen to the baby.

I had no time to lose since who knows how many minutes had flown by with the head stuck before I arrived.

I reached inside to try and free up the first arm. It wouldn't budge. I twisted the baby around so the other arm was on top. This time I was able to hook it with my index finger and drag it down and out. I turned the baby over again and freed up the other arm. Then I stuck my finger in the baby's mouth and pulled his chin down to his chest all the while pulling with my other hand firmly grasping the baby's feet between my fingers.

The head popped out and the baby flopped to the table. No tone. No cry. No breathing. Grayish blue color.

I quickly clamped and cut the cord and moved the limp mass over to the reanimation table. I started rapidly pressing the chest with one had while I quickly grabbed the bulb suction with the other and tried to clear his airway. He had a faint, slow heartbeat. For those of you who know, APGAR at one minute was one.

I kept doing chest compressions while the midwife dried, stimulated and sucked the gunk out of his nostrils.

After what seemed like hours, but was really minutes the heartbeat started to pick up. He grimaced a little and seemed like he wanted to cough.

We continued our efforts.

Slowly but surely he started to pink up and his heartrate became normal. Still pretty floppy and no breathing.

Don't stop now.

Finally, his legs and arms started to curl up. He was getting some muscle tone and his body was now pink.

At last, after I turned him over and gave him a good whack on the back he started screaming like a banshee.

Amazingly enough, APGAR at 5 minutes was nine! He was discharged home in good condition two days later.