Midwife’s new skills save baby Isabella’s life
05 August 2012
Health Care
Only weeks after gaining her certificate in resuscitating tiny babies, Southend University Hospital midwife Debbie Edwards found herself using those skills for real.
As Debbie went to check on seven-hours-old Isabella Humphrey,
she noticed the tot was very pale and lifeless. Recalling the vital
lessons she had learned on her course, Debbie rushed Isabella to a
resuscitaire - a special table with oxygen, suction and other
life-saving equipment - and called on a midwife colleague to summon
the paediatric team.
Meanwhile, she went into automatic pilot, recalling each of the
steps of the algorithm she had learned on the course. She had gone
through two sets of inflation breaths before the team took
over.
Debbie said: "It took about five minutes to get the baby stable
so she could be transferred to the special care baby unit.
Incredibly, the nurse I handed her over to there had also been on
the same life support course."
Isabella's mum, Stacey, 19, who witnessed the entire drama,
said: "It was so scary. The minute before she was fine in the cot
next to me. The midwife looked at her and said she was a bit pale.
Then stuff started coming out of her nose and mouth.
"I was screaming and crying because I didn't know what was
happening."
Debbie said: "When you do these drills, you always worry if it
will click into action when you really need it. But this gave me
confidence in myself as well as a lot of job satisfaction."
Stacey, of Shoebury, who also has a three-year-old daughter,
Gracie-Mai, said: "Debbie was amazing. She is our heroine and
deserves huge praise. Isabella spent five days in hospital but is
now getting on fine."