RUMFORD – Rumford Hospital Birthing Center nurses, nurse midwife and physicians say that most births are uneventful medically, but they are keen on being well prepared should anything go wrong. They plan regular training sessions, including mock maternity/neonatal emergency drills.

One of these drills took place in mid-April. The drill was planned and executed by neonatal resuscitation instructors and Birthing Center registered nurses Michelle Gilbert and Karen White. They and clinical coordinator Wendy Hebert, who played the mother-to-be, were the only ones who knew what was to happen.

When the mother-to-be, dramatically acted by Hebert, came into the Birthing Center in pain, registered nurse Vanessa Adams sprang into action to assess her. But when Hebert began bleeding, Adams called in backup, including the other Birthing Center nurse on duty, Jane Summers, RN. All delivering providers were alerted.

Drs. Kroger and Marden and nurse midwife Daisy Goodman responded and were in the Birthing Center within minutes.

Following an ultrasound, the operating room was prepared for a possible cesarean section, when the mother “delivered” her manikin infant in the Birthing Center. The laboratory sent a phlebotomist, and pharmacist Gus Carlson attended with medications for the endangered mother and mannequin newborn. Before the exercise was over, the nurses and doctors had placed the mother on a cardiac monitor and fully resuscitated the newborn.

“It was a team effort,” says Gilbert. “Two physicians and the nurse midwife responded, and the lab, pharmacy, radiology and the operating room all did their parts. Mother and baby are doing fine,” she adds, “due to the excellent and timely care they received from the team.”