3am the shrill tones of 'The Bat Phone' cut through the near silence, there is still a slight rumble of snoring coming from the other room, its been a peaceful night so far.
I reach out a hand towards the sound that calls us to almost instant wakefulness.
"Concrete Jungle, 2" I must sound awful, I'm forming the words but its just not sounding right.
"Got an treble 9 for you. Female 8 months pregnant, Bleeding, known to have Placenta Previa*"
"Great! Thanks!"
Stickler* sticks her head around the door, hair sticking up at an odd angle "What is it?"
I tell her and get a funny look. Last time I worked with Stickler this happened.
"We're going to get a reputation for these jobs you know!"
We drive quickly and steadily through the early morning darkness to the address. I'm the driver this time so Stickler gets the experience of being in the back.
We get buzzed into the flat by a heavily pregnant lady, she is on the phone "Ok, their here now, I'll see you in a minute". She looks flustered but not particularly panicked.
"Hi, that was my parents, there heading over to watch my son while we go in."
"Ok, erm, whats been happening?"
"I got up about an hour ago with a slight pain in my belly, not too bad, but went to the bathroom and found I was bleeding. I have Placenta Previa and had a bleed about 2 months ago, they told me if it happened again to call you guys and go in"
"Ok, do you still have the pain now?"
"No"
"Bleeding?"
"No"
"Right, well we better get going."
"I need to wait for my parents, I can't leave my son here"
"How long will they be?"
"Not long"
This usually translates into 'bloody ages' in real time, but we bite our tongue and wait, monitoring her as we sit there. I go down and contact control to advise about the delay on scene. Usually crews get to maternity jobs and are at the hospital within the ORCON time never mind just the address! Maternity jobs are the scariest ones I can think of.
The parents arrive and while Dad stays with the son, Mum gets in the back with her daughter.
"Which unit are you seen at?"
"Big City Maternity"
"Right"
I contact control and ask them to alert the unit of our arrival. They call me back and tell me to head to Ward 3 when we arrive.
Its a smooth journey in, not much on the motorway at 3.30 in the morning. I can hear Stickler going through all the questions in the back. The patient and her mother are still complete unfazed by the whole thing. I find myself slightly irritated at being used in this way, but I'd rather have her calm and fine than writhing in pain and trying to deliver, I must just be tired.
We arrive and give a hand over before cleaning the trolley and heading back to the motor.
Stickler turns to me "I'm not working with you again if your gonna keep attracting maternity jobs!"
"Me? Why is it always me that's the jinx?"
"Cos your the newest on station, that's how it works!"
"Thanks!"
*Placenta Previa - The placenta attaches across the bottom half of the uterus instead of the within the body. Placenta Previa is when it then partly separates from the wall of the uterus causing bleeding.
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Please continue to support the Mountain Rescue Challenge from my previous posts........... I will keep bugging you all about it!
Friday, 30 January 2009
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5 comments:
Sounds like you and I have something in common!
/QUOTE "The patient and her mother are still complete unfazed by the whole thing."/ENDQUOTE
Interesting... do you think this is sometimes the "shock" of calling out and going to hospital in an ambulance?
In the case of these people, no I don't think it was shock.
They informed us on route this was the 3rd time they had an ambulance out for the same reason and because she felt no pain and expected these problems as part of the condition of the pregnancy.
The only reason they called an ambulance and did not travel in the car themselves was because a Dr had told them to call us. Because it wasn't time critical we didn't get them in any faster than if her Dad had taken her............ we were essentially her taxi for the morning.
*sigh*
That came up in the news recently, I think... about the number of people "using" the ambulance service, just because they didn't want to pay for a taxi or bus to their local hospital.
Isn't it ironic that the AA now make an additional charge if you call them out more than 5 times a year, or they suspect "neglect" is the cause of your breakdown? One wonders if that would work with the ambulance service? Especially the "...won't attend if you've called us out for the same fault before in the last 28 days" bit!
I was told that in France if you call an Ambulance and its not justified you will be charged to cover the cost of the call out. Not sure how much truth is in it but I would welcome that approach in this country.
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