So I'm a new nurse, I just passed my 6 month mark. I took a job at a smaller, but very busy ER right out of nursing school. We have a great time there, I love my coworkers. There's just something special that you can't relate to people that don't work in stressful environments. It reminds me a lot of the camaraderie you find in the military.
When we got the call that a 5 month old was coming full arrest the tone in the entire ER shifted immediately. Everyone was instantly all business. Now I may be a new nurse, but I was a tech through nursing school in an ICU, and I'm no stranger to codes. In fact I love them. I love the adrenaline, the pace, the teamwork, the interventions. I'm what you would call a code junkie. Everyone kept telling me, "It's different with kids." Well I didn't know what to think about that. I've got young children, and every time I tried to think about it from my own perspective I wound up nauseated and just pushed it down into the pit of my stomach and went on about my business.
When they brought this baby in she had been down for at least 20 minutes. (When they called report we didn't have much to go on. We knew they were working hard to save this baby, so we just prepared for the worst.) When the came through the bay the medics were obviously frantic, but had intubated her. We were shuffling for an IO access when my best friend rocked a 24 in a single stick in her little hand. I was calling out dose calculations, our charge nurse was drawing meds, techs were alternating on compressions, and another talented newer grad was record keeping.
Our doc was "emptying the cart on her."
We tried everything.
PEA.
After 20 minutes, Mom got there.
We told the doc - "She needs to be in here." She needs to see that everything possible was done for her child. The chaplain guided Mom in and sat her next to me so she could hold the baby's hand. We just kept going.
Probably 20 rounds of Epi. Doc finally called it. And I just hit my knees.
I could feel everyone else around me doing the same. And we just prayed. We prayed for that baby, and we prayed for her family. It was a moment that will be forever with me. It is different with kids. Right or wrong, it just is.
In that moment I felt like I was EXACTLY where I was supposed to be in this world. I just took a PRN job at a lvl 1 pediatric ED.
I just needed to share that.