Flight

Sometimes the universe likes to be funny while keeping us on our toes.

I was on call, there was no one in labor, but I was at the clinic enjoying lunch with my co-workers.  We were all  chatting about our weeks and just enjoying the company.  One of our midwives mentioned a movie she had just seen, "Flight" (which I have not seen) about an airline pilot who has to respond quickly to an emergency, preform some "superhuman" maneuvers and remain calm to manage the situation.  And that she thought it had some correlations to midwifery.  That sometimes, things are progressing calmly and normally when an emergency can arise and we must respond quickly and assertively, utilizing our skills and training to mange the situation.

Several hours later, a family had come in to the center, excited to be welcoming their first baby.  Mama was very tired as she had been in latent labor for a very long time, Dad was hanging in there and they had a fantastic doula with them.  We settled in for the work.  Amazingly, after all the hours and hours of early labor, once at the birth center her labor progressed remarkably fast.  She was a trooper and had a pretty intense ride for about an hour and half as she moved through transition.  Then her sweet little babe had some difficulty, letting us know through her heart rate.  She had several dips, with good recovery, but still she kept having the dips.  We changed Mama's position several times and gave her some oxygen.  I stilled the room, made direct eye contact with Mama and told her that she needed to pull out her Mama Bear and bring her baby to us.  Never underestimate the power of the "Mama Bear Instinct".  This Mama was so focused, so powerful and did amazing.  Her husband and her doula were fantastic.  We were all focused on this little baby and bringing her through safely.  Despite her courageous efforts, the babe was still not coming quite as fast as I liked and I called EMS for a transport.  This gave Mama an extra surge of energy and as the EMS crew arrived, the baby was birthed.  Baby girl was completely tangled up in her cord, it was looped all around her several times almost like a harness. After untangling her, she needed a little help to get started but then did wonderfully.  Thirty minutes later and all were tucked up in bed getting acquainted.

An hour or so after the birth, I was sitting at the desk working on all the paperwork.  The Dad came over to me, gifting me with extremely heartfelt words of gratitude.  We had a little discussion about how the birth had gone and then he says to me, "Have you seen that movie Flight?" Seriously, he said that to me!  I was so surprised, I thnk that I just sat there for a few seconds with my jaw hanging open.  He then proceeded to relay the same basic observations that my midwife colleague had made about the movie earlier that afternoon.  I guess I have a movie to go and rent....