My brother is a firefighter/paramedic. I did not read back into your blogs history, but I am assuming you are doing you are a paramedic as well?

From what he has told me, the only way to get through horrible things in your line of work is:

1) Remember that with every bad occurence you may come upon, you were the one doing everything you could to help, but sometimes help is not enough.

2) You may be the person that saves someone elses life, and be sure to always remember those as that is what you are working for.

3) Sadly, the circle of life is what it is. Sometimes there is nothing you can do, and you must painfully accept it

Keep your head up buddy

BloodDrunK

Bangladesh2767 Posts

July 01 2011 08:24 GMT

oh i feel really sorry for the mother. as someone who almost didn't make it after birth, i feel for her.

but since you are a paramedic, you need to keep your head up. life can be cruel sometimes. the only thing you can do is accept and move on.

flamewheel

FREEAGLELAND26780 Posts

July 01 2011 08:27 GMT

I'm so sorry for the mother... ;;

opsayo

591 Posts

July 01 2011 08:37 GMT

dude.. fuck

TheAmazombie

United States3714 Posts

July 01 2011 08:52 GMT

#10

Reading this I am reminded of a few things. First of all, I was in a situation where I watched my uncle die. He was a young, good man that I was kind to, but we were not terribly close. Anyway, he contracted a disease that ate away at him very quickly. Within a year he went from a healthy man to life support. My aunt and his children made the decision when hope was lost to turn off the machine. I was one of the few from the family that requested to be there with him. I believe that no matter what when we die we are truly alone, but the process one does not have to be alone until the very end. I wanted to make sure that this man was not. It was strange for me as, apart from medical personal, average people do not get this opportunity very often. This is a good thing, but at the same time, something that binds us all together as humans and I have come to think we should face at one time in our lives or another.

Your post also reminds me of a song by the bay area band dredg called "Triangle." The whole song has to do with the cycle of life and death, but at one point there is a line where he says:

Watch it explode
while it's not impossible for flowers to bloom and grow
next to graves
And babies are born
in the same buildings where people go
to pass away...
Pass away

It is a sad thing, but it happens everyday. The last thing that I am reminded of is the great American novelist Kurt Vonnegut. He wrote in one of his books, I cannot remember which off the top of my head, either SL5, Breakfast of Champions, or God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, that all life is connected in a such a way that every aspect is necessary. I am not quoting, but it was something like there are not 2 genders, man and woman, as we believe, but many many genders and all are important for continuing life which includes things like the dying young man, the homosexuals, the babies that are born and die within minutes, and grieving mothers. I have thought about this a lot. It may not mean anything or have any truth to, even in the book it was spoken by aliens about their point of view of life, but it some way it is a small thing that I feel can ease some grieving. It is like the religious people who believe that things are all part of God's plan. It is something that we tell ourselves to make the bad parts about humanity more bearable.

I rambled some here, but when I read your post these things immediately popped in my head. Thank you for sharing.

Cuddle

Sweden1345 Posts

July 01 2011 09:29 GMT

#11

As a father of a newborn myself, this is heartbreaking. I would not wish this on my worst enemy. You'd think that the bonds aren't that strong to a newborn but you'd be helluva lot wrong. During the pregnancy and especially during the actual labor I prayed to every god in every religion (old and new) that everything would go well. I was scared the whole time.

We had a lot of trouble with our daughter, post birth. Something had happened during the last day of the pregnancy and she had water in her lungs. This is very common but the water was also mis-colored from waste so she had an infection in her lungs which took about 9 days to clear out with antibiotics. During this time she was in the hospital with respiration aids to keep her lungs from overworking. The infection and water in the lungs made it very hard for her to breath (combined with the antibiotics making her body work overtime on getting rid of the infection).

She was never in any real danger since it was caught so early, but man, it was one hell of a ride for a new parent. I was scared shitless the whole time, about 5 days of constant terror and worry. Even thinking about that time is rough, over a year later.

I've only had a glance of the feeling that a parent who loses his child feels and man, oh man, I'll never be the same again. I can't believe what that woman must be going though.

@Snet, I hope this doesn't put you off from working as a paramedic. The people who took care of my daughter and made sure she lived, I'd do anything for them. They're true heroes doing a, sometimes, thankless work. Keep focusing on the people you do actually help and know that we appreciate the hell out of it.
<3

TheAmazombie

United States3714 Posts

July 01 2011 10:00 GMT

#12

On July 01 2011 18:29 Cuddle wrote:
As a father of a newborn myself, this is heartbreaking. I would not wish this on my worst enemy. You'd think that the bonds aren't that strong to a newborn but you'd be helluva lot wrong. During the pregnancy and especially during the actual labor I prayed to every god in every religion (old and new) that everything would go well. I was scared the whole time.

We had a lot of trouble with our daughter, post birth. Something had happened during the last day of the pregnancy and she had water in her lungs. This is very common but the water was also mis-colored from waste so she had an infection in her lungs which took about 9 days to clear out with antibiotics. During this time she was in the hospital with respiration aids to keep her lungs from overworking. The infection and water in the lungs made it very hard for her to breath (combined with the antibiotics making her body work overtime on getting rid of the infection).

She was never in any real danger since it was caught so early, but man, it was one hell of a ride for a new parent. I was scared shitless the whole time, about 5 days of constant terror and worry. Even thinking about that time is rough, over a year later.

I've only had a glance of the feeling that a parent who loses his child feels and man, oh man, I'll never be the same again. I can't believe what that woman must be going though.

@Snet, I hope this doesn't put you off from working as a paramedic. The people who took care of my daughter and made sure she lived, I'd do anything for them. They're true heroes doing a, sometimes, thankless work. Keep focusing on the people you do actually help and know that we appreciate the hell out of it.
<3

I went through a small scare with my wife when we were in for my son being born. There was a problem where his heart rate was dropping rapidly while still inside. It got scary for a few minutes, but the doctors and nurses figured out the problem and fixed it. For like 3 minutes is was very scary though to the point where my wife was about to be rushed into emergency c-section. The first time in my life that I was every truly scared, I had no idea at all what to do. I remember thinking...omg...this is actually serious.

LonelyIslands

Canada590 Posts

July 01 2011 10:32 GMT

#13

There seems to be a few EMTs and Paramedics on TL. It's always interesting finding out the differences in scopes of practice and how treatments differ from area to area. Are you an EMT Snet? If so are you planning on taking the Paramedic test? I've found with bad neonate/infant/pediatric calls the best thing is to have someone to talk to about it. What was the nature of illness/mechanism of injury here?