Emergency C-Section

08/15/12

Beginning section

Power outage. Waiting for generator.

The mom had been stalled in labor for probably many days before coming to the hospital. The doctors suspected infection due to the foul smell coming from between her legs. One incision cuts through the abdominal wall. The second incision cuts through the uterus. Upon incision the uterus erupted with stinking brown liquid - pus and meconium and blood. My dad quickly thrust his hand into the uterus trying to find the baby, whose head was trapped low in the pelvis. With great effort he pulled the limp body from the womb and cut the umbilical cord. Sarah rushed the baby to the adjacent operating room where she and another doctor frantically suctioned brown pus from his nose and mouth and bagged oxygen, squeezing air into his lungs. Intubation took three failed attempts. They rubbed his chest. They gave him CPR. The suction from the bagged oxygen sounded like a cry and I thought he’d woken up, but no. They went back and forth over whether or not he had a heartbeat, desperately straining to detect one with their shared stethoscope. He didn’t. He never opened his eyes. His lips stayed blue. His tiny fingers and toes stayed white. Sarah carried him through the hallways past dozens of people to weigh him on the one baby scale they have. He was 9lbs. She wrapped him up in bright cloth and set him by a sink with another woman, who would take care of him.

The woman had tearing and bleeding in her cervix. The doctors, including my dad, sewed up the tear and closed her up, but she continued to bleed. She had a second surgery later in the day to stop the bleeding, which turned into a complete removal of her utuerus - a hysterectomy.