The other interesting job yesterday (for with one exception, today was a day full of maternitys and elderly chest pains) was a maternity, but one with a difference.  The patient was supposed to have a home delivery, but the delivery was taking too long, the mother was getting tired, and the baby had meconium stained amniotic fluid.  Meconium is babies first poo.

The midwives decided that it would be better if the baby was delivered in hospital, so called for an ambulance to transport the mother to hospital.

What was different was that the patient lived on a houseboat.

Cue myself, carrying a load of heavy, expensive equipment down narrow docks, narrower walkways and unbelievably narrow boat walkway.  Then out again carrying even more  (of the midwifes equipment).

We have a new version of our computer priority system, one that seems to classify most of our maternity calls as top priority ‘category A’ calls.  This means that I get sent on them.  So I turn up, the mother wonders why I can’t take them to hospital (being on the rapid response car means that I shouldn’t transport anyone), and I stand there making sure that they know that the pain they are currently feeling is slight compared to what is about to happen…

It also surprises me that they will tell Control that the contractions are a minute apart, and yet when I turn up and ask them, the contractions seem to slowed down to one every five or six minutes.

Hmmm

And congratulations to Liz, a frequent commenter who just lost her bump and gained a baby.  And whose blog site, for some reason I can’t load…

I did have one interesting job today, a diabetic with an exceptionally low blood sugar.  I turned up first, gave her some glucagen (which raises blood sugar), and the ambulance turned up.  We got her in the back of the ambulance, and because her blood sugar was so low we thought that giving some sugar straight into the bloodstream would be a good idea.  Our brave paramedic popped a cannula into the back of her hand and got a kick in the head for his trouble. 

Oh, and plenty of laughter from his crewmate and myself.

Obviously he wasn’t hurt, and the patient never meant to kick him, she was just confused.  But it was such an amusing thump with a hilarious hollow sound as she bounced her foot off his skull…