"Yeah, you here to help?" The young man turned to face the approaching woman. "Gosh, I sure hope you’re a paramedic."
Garrett smirked, "I think I’ll do. I’m Dr. Trivoli, and the other one dressed just like me is my nurse, Danni Bossard." The surgeon pointed to the entrapped woman. "How’s she doing?"
Ed started rattling off the information that he knew. "She’s full term and was on her way to the hospital in labor when the accident happened. She said her due date was about a week ago and that this is her first pregnancy. They were meeting Dr. Jenkins at hospital. We checked in with him and he’s already delivering a baby as we speak. They figured your team might be a good choice."
Garrett’s eyebrow edged upward at that last comment. "Thanks, for thinking of us. Let me get the other half of my team." She started to walk away.
Reaching out and grabbing at the surgeon’s coat, the boy called out, "Hey, Doc!" Trivoli’s body stopped and turned to look at him. "I forgot to tell you something."
"What?" The concern was written across her face.
The boy pointed to the tarp-covered mass on the ground not far from the wreckage. "That’s her husband."
Garrett gulped down hard as she tasted the bile at the back of her throat. Her eyes darted back to the woman in the wreckage. ‘Not another lone survivor! I won’t let either one of them become that.’ Her mind thought of the unborn child, never knowing either of its parents. She made her mind up to do everything she could not to let another person join her elite club.
She went back to where Danni was standing, waiting to hear the worst.
"Do you know what you’re going to do yet?"
Garrett looked back over to the wreckage. "No…no, I don’t."
There was little that Garrett or Danni could do while the woman was still trapped. The biggest part of the care that they could administer was to keep track of the contractions, timing them as they came. After giving the pregnant woman their attention and bolstering her will to survive, all they could do was wait. The only exposed areas of the woman was her head, shoulders and left arm and that gave them no access to the baby at all. What they had done already was to quickly assess the patient and establish a large bore I.V. line of warmed Ringer’s Lactate Solution. The night was cold and crisp out here in the country and the team worried about hypothermia in their patient.
Danni stayed with the patient, giving her words of encouragement, while she timed the contractions as they came and went. Her close proximity to the woman helped to keep her warm, as she sheltered her from the wind on her only exposed side. The time of the contractions had slipped to almost three minutes apart now, and the nurse was beginning to be concerned.
The surgeon had thought about all of her options and set them out for the pilot to consider. She needed to know just how long it would take to transport the patient to the list of facilities that she had given him. If none of them were acceptable, she’d have to consider doing the delivery herself.
Cowboy studied his charts and weather patterns hoping to give the best route to the surgeon. He mulled over the calculations in his head before coming to a decision. ‘I hope she knows what she’s doing. Helicopters don’t make good delivery rooms.’ The pilot straightened up and went back to where his team was standing and waiting.
"Any progress yet?" He stood next to Garrett and leaned in toward her.
The surgeon shook her head. "No! How about you?"
"Yeah, I got the answers that you were looking for." He handed her his scribbling on a piece of paper. "But that’s only if we are able to lift off in the next thirty minutes. There’s a change coming in the weather pattern."
Garrett looked at the paper and started planning her method of care. "Thanks, Cowboy."
Suddenly the sound of elated human voices crying out into the night overpowered the deafening drone of the engines and hydraulic tools. The members of the Flight Surgeon Team looked over to see the mass of metal being peeled back away from the entrapped victim, while sidelined firefighters and ambulance personnel whooped and hollered in a victory cry. They had been challenged, and won, the battle to free the woman and her unborn child. The wreckage and carnage would not take them without a fight.
"Cowboy, get the ‘copter ready for lift off." The surgeon directed, then pushed off, heading at a brisk run toward the released hostage.
Danni was helping to stabilize the patient as she was placed onto the long backboard to immobilize her spine. The removal of the wreckage from her body allowed the nurse to finally visualize and assess the woman. The odd angle that her arm was positioned meant only one thing to Danni, a fracture. With swift movements, the nurse quickly directed the splinting of the deformed right lower arm, as Garrett was already examining the woman with her hands on her abdomen, checking for the baby’s positioning. It wouldn’t really matter if she had to take it but it, was always good to know.
The nurse slipped in next to Garrett and handed her the stethoscope from out of her jacket where it had been kept nice and warm with the heat of her body. Danni noticed the pained look on the woman’s face and the rushed short exchanges of air from her mouth.
"Contraction?" The nurse picked up the patient’s left hand and held it. "Go ahead and squeeze my hand if you have to." The nurse’s eyes moved along the exposed areas of the pained woman’s body, searching for any obvious injuries or indications of potential blood loss. Seeing none, Danni looked to see what progress her team member was making.
The patient looked to her and the message was given in grunts, "Ye…ye...yeah."
Danni looked down at the woman’s abdomen to see the stethoscope being moved from area to area as the tall surgeon listened intently. Within a few seconds the spasm lessened and the woman began to relax. The nurse looked into her eyes and began to introduce herself and Garrett but the only concern of the woman was that of her unborn child.
"My baby, don’t let anything happen to my baby." She was sobbing now for the life of her child. Her hand clutched at Garrett’s, drawing her attention. "Take the child if you have to save only one of us." Her eyes pleading what her words could not.
"I’m going to do everything that I can to keep you both safe and alive. Just trust me." Garrett broke her gaze at the woman and demanded of those around her, "I need a flashlight and another blanket. NOW!"
Within seconds, the items were produced and the surgeon undertook the task of assessing the promptness of her impending delivery. Danni quickly draped the lower half of the woman with the blanket as Garrett positioned her legs. Under the privacy of the blanket, the surgeon used the flashlight to illuminate the opening to the birth canal. ‘There’s no crowning yet. We’ve got a little time to go.’
Danni’s hand was clamped down on by the woman’s with such strength that the nurse feared for broken bones. "Gar, it’s another contraction."
"I got to PUSH!!! It’s coming. I can’t hold it." The voice was ragged and loud. "Help me, please." She started to whimper.
It was too late; the baby was now in the birth canal, its buttocks presenting for delivery. Garrett quickly made her decision, based on Cowboys calculations. She emerged from under the blanket and locked eyes for a second with her nurse. "She’s delivering. Let’s get her into that ambulance and out of the cold."