I am a nursing student. Just started OB rotations which I was so excited about! My first day I was placed in L&D... while there, ED called saying they needed L&D nurse to assist with stillborn delivery. Nurse went down, assuming fetus wasn't alive. When she arrived, fetus was alive. 295 g. Mom had no prenatal care, didn't know was pg. Came in with abd pain, needed a vag exam so removed the tampon she had in because she thought she started her period... pulled out fetus. Dr. said fetus was 18-19 weeks. Here is my issue, and maybe (probably) I'm wrong. This fetus was initially bagged until RT said to stop because fetus wasn't viable, so they did. Brought mom and baby to recovery in OB. 3 hrs later, fetus is still alive. How is that possible? Can a 19 week old fetus live that long with NO interventions other than the initial bagging? Is it possible that the baby had IUGR and that the docs treated the couplet differently because mom was obviously mentally unstable, off the street, probably and addict? I'm frustrated because not only am I confused but also, that poor baby was left laying on the end of his mother's bed to die rather than be held/comforted while dying. Even the nurses on the floor seemed surprised the baby was still living...
