Oops....

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Dec 18, 2007

We once got a baby that had been delivered at home unexpectedly. Mom was having contractions and called 911 because she had no transportation, then mom precipped right as she was being hoisted from her chair to the EMS stretcher. Per EMS, the baby's head "possibly struck the carpet." The baby ended up doing fine, although it had facial dysmorphic features likely due to maternal crack exposure.

preemieRNkate, RN · Dec 18, 2007

Now I've heard about babies being born in the toliet, but always term. Anybody else ever had a preterm do this (or something similar)???

Well, we've had both preterm and term toilet babies, as well as preterm babies born in the bed up on our ante floor. Babies born at home, in the ambulance, in the parking garage, etc. It always seems that when I'm in charge we get admissions of babies born anywhere but the DR!! People always ask me where the first admit nurse will be heading when they see I'm in charge!

llg, PhD, RN · Dec 18, 2007

Oh, sure. I always thought it was more common with preemies. The mom's are expecting to be in labor ... and some labors are deceptive.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Dec 18, 2007

The way our unit is set up, one of the mother/baby/antepartum halls is right next to L/D, the other is right next to NICU. Fortunately, this one happened the one next to NICU.

33-weeker mom in PTL (bedrest/bathroom privileges) gets up at 2am to pee, or so they think....and out comes baby. One nurse was already in there with her, & the charge nurse opened the door to NICU & hollered "33 weeker delivery in room XXXXX!" Off everyone went running.....

The kid did fine, if I recall correctly.

The worst one I ever remember was when I was in nursing school & was doing a small stint in a level III NICU. Mom went to the ER having contractions at 24 weeks and on her way from the car to the ER door (just afew feet) baby literall fell out onto the concrete. Of course had a grade IV bleed & was fighting like a mad dog to stay alive two weeks later.

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Dec 18, 2007

We had a set of 28-week twins both born in the toilet at home. Mom had gotten high on some cocaine, went to the bathroom, and looked down to find 2 babies "bobbing" in the toilet. EMS was called, and both were taken to our ED (luckily only 5 min away) where we resuscitated them. They both had temps of around 88f, but did great. Other than going through mild withdrawals, they never had any problems. No IVH, no sepsis. The cold water in the toilet probably had something to do with that! I just remember cringing and doublegloving for their first bath.

Imafloat, BSN, RN · Dec 18, 2007

We had a set of 28-week twins both born in the toilet at home. Mom had gotten high on some cocaine, went to the bathroom, and looked down to find 2 babies "bobbing" in the toilet. EMS was called, and both were taken to our ED (luckily only 5 min away) where we resuscitated them. They both had temps of around 88f, but did great. Other than going through mild withdrawals, they never had any problems. No IVH, no sepsis. The cold water in the toilet probably had something to do with that! I just remember cringing and doublegloving for their first bath.

When I first started reading this, I thought, wow, does he work in my unit? We had a very similar case, except the mom didn't know that the plop in the toilet was a twin (no prenatal care). The baby was in the toilet for about 5 minutes.

Sylv · Dec 18, 2007

The worst one I ever remember was when I was in nursing school & was doing a small stint in a level III NICU. Mom went to the ER having contractions at 24 weeks and on her way from the car to the ER door (just afew feet) baby literall fell out onto the concrete. Of course had a grade IV bleed & was fighting like a mad dog to stay alive two weeks later.

Don't people wear underwear?

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Dec 18, 2007

Don't people wear underwear?

I guess if she thought she was in labor, maybe not...I dunno.

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Dec 18, 2007

We've had "toilet deliveries" of every gestation, all at home. At the hospital we get a few delivered in the bedpan.

Sweeper933 · Dec 18, 2007

Well I guess whatever happened w/ this baby didn't effect him too much, before I left work this morning he was already on a room air 2L cannula...

wjf00 · Dec 19, 2007

In the ER a 19 weeker was born this way. To make matters worse, some management idiot had made the decision to go with automatic flush toilets. You can guess how bad a decision that was. The next day all the bathrooms in the facility were getting new toilets.