Adventures in an ER

Working in a hospital has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. While I see many things that I don't necessarily like to see, like blood, family problems, death, etc; I also see a lot of people get helped on a daily basis. I never thought I would become one of those people that needed help in the emergency room. Enter Monday night.

I worked a 3-11 shift in the Emergency Room, where I register patients and verify insurance information, stuff like that. I love my job, it's very entertaining and I like the hustle and bustle of an Emergency Room. I left work at 11:30, and was driving home from Fort Dodge back to Webster City. I call Joel every night when I leave work and we usually talk the whole way home, which is about a 25 minute drive. Since I am usually so busy at work and I can't call him, we use this drive to catch up with each other.  As I was driving home on Monday, I had just gotten on to Highway 20, and BAM. This was what I thought I hit.

 
I saw a head hitting my beautiful Chevy Equinox. I screamed, yelled at Joel through the phone, and slammed on my brakes and pulled over, starting to hyperventilate. Luckily, Joel was off that night so he threw on some clothes and started driving towards me, which again, was a 25 minute drive. He magically made it in 15 minutes. Let me tell you, that this was what I actually hit.

 I remember Joel asking me if it was a buck or a doe, and I said I thought it was a buck, but wasn't sure. I didn't have time to swerve, think about anything, it jumped out and I saw its head hit my car. Turns out it was just a little doe. But still, that didn't affect my reaction! Since I had just left work, less than 5 minutes away, I called back there to get the number to the LEC (Webster County Law Enforcement Center). I wasn't injured physically, I didn't think, so I didn't want to call 911. Working with nurses and paramedics on a daily basis has made me appreciate the reason for a 911 call versus reporting an incident through the non-emergency number.

I called dispatch at the LEC to report the accident and report that I wasn't injured but was 34 weeks pregnant so I would at least like to get looked at on the scene by someone. I specifically told her that I did not want the ambulance coming in hot (lights and sirens blaring), but of course, the boys driving didn't listen to that request. I should also mention that I was just out of the city limits of Fort Dodge so instead of Fort Dodge Police and Rescue, I got Webster County, and each little town/township in Webster County has its own first responders, so 10 different first responders showed up, each in their own vehicles, each with their little blue lights on top of the cars, plus a couple Webster County Sheriff Deputies, plus the ambulance.

When the ambulance showed up, I knew who it was going to be, it was my friends from work who I had literally just said goodbye to. Apparently they didn't put two and two together that it was me. When they got there, it was so nice to see a familiar face. I was so scared that something had happened to the baby and I was standing on the side of the highway late at night with a bunch of strangers. I got into the ambulance and they checked me. I knew I was ok, I was wearing my seatbelt properly,  didn't hit the steering wheel, and was just shook up. But, I was very nervous for Tessa. They checked her fetal heart tones and she was still beating away. That relieved me a little, but I noticed a lot more pressure down low. I had been carrying pretty high for most of the pregnancy, and I knew her head was down but it wasn't engaged into the pelvis area yet. Then when this happened, I felt the pressure of her head and it was VERY low. Then, I freaked. Luckily by that time Joel had gotten there and was calming me down while talking to the medics (shoutout to Justin and Tony).

We decided not to ride in the ambulance back to the hospital, but agreed we definitely needed to go to the hospital to get monitored and make sure I wasn't having any bleeding, contractions, etc.  Joel drove me back, and my other medic friend Jeff met us half way out to stick me in a wheelchair. I got registered, and it was very odd to be on the other side of the desk. I had registered hundreds of OB patients that were going to get monitored for various reasons, and now, here I was, a patient myself. I thought that wouldn't happen until we were actually having our baby. So, I got wheeled up to Labor and Delivery and got all hooked up to monitor Tessa and I.

The nurses were great and so calming. After about an hour, they said they were surprised I wasn't contracting and that my water hadn't broken from the sheer trauma of the accident, but luckily, everything was just fine. The nurse kept saying how lucky I was, which was a huge relief, but also made me realize the severity of the situation, and that we could have actually had a baby that night, 6 weeks early, if something had happened. They called my doctor, who wasn't even the on call doctor, but is amazing and talked to them at 2am about me, and he said he felt comfortable discharging me and seeing me in the morning, since we had our regular 34 week appointment anyways Tuesday morning. All in all, it was a very scary 3 hours, and I was so glad that Joel wasn't working and was able to come and help, and that I was in the hands of familiar faces with the medics and staff.

Guess that's what we pay for full coverage car insurance for!