We walked into the unit, immediately knowing that something was not normal, and that something was veerry wrong. Its normally a pretty quiet unit, but today Mother/Baby was too quiet. Denise and I walk over to the nurses station to see what's going on...
A 15 year old girl delivered a baby that was still born.
Oh. My. God.
I'm speechless. 1,000 things start running through my mind.
The 15 year old's mom is in the room with her, and the patient is holding a teddy bear and won't stop sobbing. (Can you really blame her? She was expecting to be holding a baby. What should this girl be doing?) The mom of the girl is crying, but not as hard, she is a very passive person.
The 15 year old patient, has a 1 year old at home.
We walk into the room. All we can do is sit and listen and try to let her talk. We didn't say much, asked a few questions, but tried to let her do some of the talking. She talked a little, but mainly just sat on the bed, holding a teddy bear, crying.
Oh.My.God.
The hospital I'm working at is not a high risk hospital. Anything that is considered high risk goes to a larger hospital that is better equipped to handle bigger traumas. Why was she brought to a smaller hospital? It was either deliver in the hospital or in the ambulance.
Because we don't normally have this type of case, a social worker from a hospice company was called, and she came to speak with the patient. She had more resources to give her then we did. The patient also saw the hospital chaplain.
It was not an easy day, that's all I can say.
So now my project is to revamp the resources for the Mother/Baby unit. And I will be finding some resources for a death of a newborn. How horrible and tragic that the hospital didn't have the information and had to call hospice. But in all fairness they help with death, and the healing process more so than a hospital social worker.
It just broke my heart. Fifteen with a one year old and dealing with the loss of a newborn. It just broke my heart.
Horrible. In so many ways. Horrible that she is only 15 and had to experience this type of death, but horrible that she is such a young mom and already has another child. Horrible that she is still a child herself. (( I hope this doesn't sound heartless, I wasn't trying to, it is just a horrible situation all the way around.))
ReplyDeleteYou are going into such a great field of work, but unfortunately, its going to be a tough line. It definitely takes a special kind of person to deal with this sort of thing everyday.
I hope that you are able to have some success is finding new resources. That is something that they should def. have no matter if they are a big or small place.
OMG! 15 i had to look at it twice, 15 and has a 1 year old at home....OMG!! I am speechless.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel Emilie! Working in my profession, I run into the same sort of things. We even have to ask any female over the age of 12 if they have had any pregnancies and if sexually active. You would be surprise how many 13 year olds i have scanned.... pregnant. Or maybe after a while, you wont be surprised. It is really sad to have to be part of these scenarios and I will tell you that it doesn't get any easier. After 5 years of doing what I do, I still am in shock when I get a young girl as a pregnant patient.
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