Impatient babies no match for these Memorial Hospital nurses

Becky MacDonald, left, and Kristin Roush, right, pose together inside Memorial Hospital of South Bend.

Two expectant moms this summer didn’t quite make it into Memorial Hospital before their babies were ready to be born.

Luckily, long-time nurses Becky MacDonald and Kristin Roush were on hand for these special deliveries.

Becky delivered a baby just outside the Childbirth Unit in Lafayette parking garage. About a month later, Kristin delivered a baby inside the parent’s car parked on the third level of the very same garage.

Parking garage births aren’t common, thankfully. But they can prove challenging.

“Working in the front seat of a little car with no room and a mama that’s scared to death can be tricky,” Kristin said. “It’s so rewarding though, being able to help someone through that.”

Becky agreed.

“It’s also tricky getting them out of the car because in the transition, baby could just slip right out. In that case, you have to be ready to catch a very slippery baby,” Becky said. “I know it seems pretty scary, but it’s actually pretty dang cool. And once the baby is born, there is usually a sigh of relief, a round of clapping, and a very happy mom and dad.”

Here are the nurses’ stories, in their own words.

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“I was headed down the stairwell of the Lafayette Garage with my purse and a bag of bagels for my busy staff. It was already a full house on the unit. I thought I heard someone screaming as I got to our floor, and saw our admitting clerk running toward the rest of our staff to alert them of something. I could tell the screaming was coming from the garage just outside our unit, so I ran out to see if I could help.

“I found a small car parked in the labor and delivery parking spot with the door open and a man standing by it bent over the seat. I approached the car and saw a scared father looking to me for help. I crawled into the car where there was a woman breathing heavily with wide eyes, something I have seen so many times before. When I suggested that she get up and out of the car, she said she didn’t want to move. I asked if she felt any pressure like the baby moving down. She said she did.

“In order to see if we still had a chance to get her out of the car and into a safer position to deliver, I looked to see if baby was coming. Her husband brought a wheelchair to us, and I had a pep talk with the laboring mother, convincing her that she could move between contractions. My heroic team of advanced experience labor and delivery nurses had joined me by this time, as I got the woman up and moving to the chair.

“‘This baby is coming,‘ she told us after she got into the chair.

“We checked her and found a beautiful little head emerging in a hurry. All she needed was a good push and out came the rest of the baby. I congratulated her and sent her off to the best care a new little family could ask for: the Memorial Childbirth Unit.”

Becky MacDonald, BSN, RCN-OB
Memorial Hospital Childbirth Unit manager

“A man rang the 3rd floor admitting doorbell in the Lafayette parking garage entry and calmly walked inside. He asked for Jennifer, the admitting clerk, to see if he could get some help because something was wrong with his wife. Jen followed the man to the garage with a wheelchair, looked inside the car, and saw his wife. She had her left hand on the driver’s side window and her right on the dash, and she was screaming.

“I received a call from Jennifer on the charge phone. “Get out here to the garage,” she told me urgently.

“I grabbed gloves and a couple of nurses. Jackie Echartea, Abbey Newberry, Kristin Rouch and I sprinted to the garage. I opened the passenger door to find a very pregnant woman with her legs propped up on the seat in a squatting position. “Please help me!” she cried.

“Leaning inside the car, I told the patient that I needed her to stop screaming and to listen closely. She had tears rolling down her face in what I assumed was both extreme pain and fear. I told her the baby was coming and we were there to help her. She screamed at her husband.

“‘It’s all your fault for taking time to take a shower,‘ the woman yelled.

“This made me laugh a bit inside.

“The patient listened so well. As I instructed her to bear down and push, she did exactly what she needed to and that beautiful baby was delivered into my hands. The woman did so amazing and I was so proud of her. Another nurse, Jodi Pairtz, brought us a triage cart and we assisted the patient into a standing position, all while holding her gorgeous baby in her arms.

“We swaddled that sweet baby in warm blankets and covered Mama and baby with many more warm blankets. Then we transferred that precious little family onto the Childbirth Unit, where they could begin the admission process.

“At the end of the day, when all the dust settled and we caught our breath, I was again reminded of how very blessed I am to help these women in their greatest times of need. I have worked in Labor & Delivery for 19 years, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. It was so awesome to help this beautiful family welcome their new little peanut into this big world, even if that happened in the front seat of the family car.”

Kristin Roush, RNC, C-EFM
Memorial Hospital Childbirth Unit