An emergency call in an ambulance for imminent child-birth goes like this...

Time

0730 Dispatch sounds a Loud Beep - "Paramedic 10 for imminent child-birth, 66 Half Moon Street, between Sun Ave and Mars Lane"

The Paramedic 10 crew looks for the quickest route on the map from their current post

0732 Paramedic 10 "Dispatch, 10 responding"

A safe fast drive through the city traffic

0737 Paramedic 10 "Dispatch, 10 on scene"

In 5-10 mins the crew

• introduces themselves to the woman
• gets her trust
• checks for how imminent the birth is
• gets her medical history including GPA
• gets her onto the stretcher
• moves her into the back of the ambulance
• and heads for the hospital

0737 Paramedic 10 "Dispatch, 10 in route for DownTown Medical"

A safe fast drive through the city traffic

0738 Paramedic 10 "DownTown Medical, Paramedic 10"

DownTown Medical "Go ahead Paramedic 10"

Paramedic 10 "We are 3 minutes out with a conscious and alert 25y/o female, chief complaint imminent childbirth, normal pregnancy, full term, Gravid 2, Para 1, contractions 60 seconds apart, lasting 20 seconds, not crowning - will give you vitals as soon as I have them"

DownTown Medical "What are the vital signs?"

Paramedic 10 ignores them, she is busy...

• getting a complete set of vital signs
• establishing an IV
• checking for crowning
• preparing to catch the baby

0741 Paramedic 10 "DownTown Medical, Paramedic 10"

DownTown Medical "Go ahead Paramedic 10"

Paramedic 10 "We are 1 minute out with a conscious and alert 25y/o female, chief complaint imminent childbirth, normal pregnancy, full term, Gravid 2, Para 1, contractions 60 seconds apart, lasting 20 seconds, is crowning, O2 and IV established, Vital Signs are BP 160/90, Pulse 114, Resp 30, contractions started 4 hours ago, water broke then, see you in 1 minute"

0741 Paramedic 10 "Dispatch, Paramedic 10 at DownTown Med - 0.9 miles"

0742 The stretcher is unloaded, and the woman modestly but swiftly wheeled into the ER - no time to get to Labor and Delivery

0743 ER doc to Paramedic 10, as they look at the hand-sized crowning of the baby - "What is the history?"

The ER doc expects a concise answer right now.

In the midst of this, Paramedic 10 needs a solid mnemonic to remember the difference between Gravida and Para.

/Bevin

Thanks for the explanation, Bevin, but I wish the EMT's could come up with a more considerate way of remembering!

Most EMT's probably treat women with respect to their faces, at least I hope they do!

I've had the best EMT'S help me! Never for a pregnancy though!

Halfstep-Denise

Treating patients with respect and consideration under the most stressful circumstances is essential, both for the wellbeing of the patient, and the wellbeing of the EMT

Being a jerk is the #1 cause of malpractise suits - and rightfully so - there is no excuse for it

/Bevin

Word of the Day: Widdershins (Withershins) (Adverb)
Pronunciation: ['wid-êr-shinz]

Definition: Moving in a direction opposite the usual; moving counterclockwise or in the contrary direction (of the sun, especially).

Usage: Today's word is basically an adverb but may be used as an adjective without the final [s]. As a predicate adjective, however, the [s] is usually left on. D. H. Lawrence wrote in 'Plumed Serpent' (1926) "She made up her mind, to be alone, and to cut herself off from all the mechanical widdershin contacts. He, too, was widdershins, unwinding the sensations of disintegration and anti-life."

Suggested Usage: Today's word is another wonderword from the land of kilts and bagpipes that we should all fight to keep alive: "Gerard does everything widdershins; he will either turn out a grandiose success or an abrupt failure." Niches for this word abound in everyday conversations: "Remember, the prophets agree that you get nowhere walking widdershins up the escalator."

Etymology: Middle Low German weddersinnes based on wider "back," whence German wider "against" and wieder "again." The English adverb wither "wrong, perverse" is rarely used any more. The "shins" is from earlier "sinnes" and is related to Latin sentire "sense, feel" since both go back to an original root *sent- "go in or choose a direction." We borrowed "sense" from the noun of this verb. The same root also turns up in English send "to cause someone to go in a direction."


—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

Today's word is 'grok' from the 'Martian language.' It entered English circa 1961 via the imagination of one of those supernal being living among us whom we refer to as 'writers.'

Click on the attachment to see more:

Is the the WOTD "Martian" or "grok"? the attachment takes me to grok, where I entered the grokosphere trying to fit in..ah...but alas...my grok-o-meter is broken, and I came out with no further melding..

cool pic of Mars

Sorry about that. The way I worded the introduction is really ambiguous; I can see it now. Instead of the 'word is Martian' I should have written that the word comes from the 'Martian language.' I'll try to fix it for future readers. I'm glad you caught that,Pam.

Yes, it is a cool picture. That purple glow might be an aurora above the North Pole.

Word of the Day: Brontophobia (Noun)

Pronunciation: [bran-tê-'fo-bi-ê]
Definition: The fear of thunder or thunderstorms.

Usage: Very rare despite the fact that the phenomenon is rather common, especially among children. A person fearing thunder is a brontophobe because they are brontophobic.

Suggested Usage: Perhaps we should ignore this word because it is so rarely needed, "Percy, I'm not sure brontology is the right field for a brontophobe like yourself. Why don't you try nuclear physics?" But, no, add it to your vocabulary for moments like this: "You know, Mavis, there is nothing like a brontophobic girl to pass a stormy night with."

Etymology: From Greek bronté "thunder" + phobía "fear." The brontosaur, or "thunder lizard," now bears its original name, apatosaur or "untrue lizard," lost for years but recently rediscovered. "Bronto-" rarely emerges in English: brontology is the study of thunderstorms and a brontometer is a device for rating them. "Phobia" and "phobe" are widely used: "claustrophobia" and "agoraphobia" are antonyms, and lexiphobia "the fear of words," is one of the most common afflictions treated by Dr. Language at yourDictionary.com.

—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

Does this mean that Emily Brontë(author of Wuthering Heights) was a stormy gal? ;)