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Saturday, September 22, 2007

(False) Labor Day

On Tuesday morning I arrived at work as usual. A little after 9am, my 30-week pregnant coworker, lets call her "J," lay her head down on her desk. I asked her if she was ok, and she said yes. A few minutes later she said she was hot and she started to breath shallowly. I again asked if she was ok; she said she wasn't sure. She started to wring her hands and mentioned that her hands were going numb. I asked "J" if she wanted me to take her to the doctor's office or hospital and she said no. As she leaned over to retrieve her phone from her purse, she fell off her chair. This understandably alarmed me and I quickly got down on the floor with her to assess the situation. She got her doctor on the phone, who told her to go to the hospital. She then called her husband and told him to meet her there. As soon as she got off the phone, I took control. I told her that I would be driving her. I then instructed two other of our co-workers to help her up and get her downstairs to the front door. I then ran out the back entrance of the building and got my car. When I pulled up front, my co-workers put her in my car and buckled her in. At this point, she mentioned that the numbness was spreading up her arms and I could see that she was shivering. I quickly made my way to Utah Valley Hospital. I parked in a red zone and took her inside, where there was no one at the information desk. I ran around until I found someone and said that I had a woman possibly in pre-term labor. They directed us to the 5th floor. As we got out of the elevator and approached the desk, "J's" hands, arms, and face were numb. She gave her name and doctor's name and they gave her some paperwork to fill out. We were taken to a room and she was told to change into a gown. I answered her cell phone and gave directions to her husband as to what room we were in. I started to fill in her paperwork, as best I could, and then helped her onto the bed. After we were done, I took her paperwork to the nurses station and encouraged them to hurry and help her. By that time her husband had arrived and I realized that she had appointments that were going to show up at work. I asked if there was anything I can do, ask her husband to call us with news, and went back to work.
After I returned to work, I had to go down to IT to ask them if they could let me look at her calender so I would know what her appointments were. I covered for her all day and did my best to get as much of her work done as possible. I stayed until 6:30pm, then decided it was time to go home.
On the way home, I stopped at the library, where I received a phone call from Scotty. He was reminding me that I had agreed to go to a new member discussion at 7pm. He picked me up at the library and, when finding out that I hadn't had dinner, went through the Subway drive-through and got me dinner. We were late to the new member discussion but I think it went well. Afterwards, Scotty was driving me home when we realized that my car was still at the library. He quickly changed his route and then asked if I was going to the goodbye party for Dori, a girl in our ward. I said yes and that I would meet him there. I went to the goodbye party and had some ice cream. I then talked to Dave and Angie about Camille. Dave, Camille's boyfriend, is struggling with Camille's death and it was good to talk some things over.
I arrived home after 10pm, exhausted and ready for bed. What a day. The next morning I made sure I was in by 8:30 so I would be ready for "J's" first appointment. As I rounded the corner, there she was. I asked how she was and she replied "fine." I asked how her baby was and she replied "fine."

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