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The Story Behind The Emergency Delivery Kit
It was late afternoon on a beautiful spring day in New York City when I heard a woman’s panicked screams coming from a car. I was not a native New Yorker so my first instinct was to run because someone was being mugged or car jacked. But the screams were out of character for a hostile encounter, especially since there was grid lock traffic during rush hour on 5th avenue approaching the Plaza Hotel. The screams seemed to be coming from a car stuck in rush hour traffic. As I made my way towards the commotion, I realized that the screams were coming from a frantic pregnant woman in the back seat of a yellow cab, stuck in grid lock traffic. She had gone into active labor and called a cab to take her to the hospital thinking she had plenty of time before baby was to be born. Unfortunately, baby was traveling faster than NYC traffic and it was clear she was not going to make it to the hospital before this baby was to be born.
Knowing that the nearest hospital was a few blocks away and the babies head was already starting to come out, I knew I had to take action. The obstetrics externship I recently completed in medical school prepared me for what I was about to encounter in the back of the cab. Having had the opportunity to work in a busy obstetric unit, I had the opportunity to be the primary assistant for the delivery of a handful of babies, but the only difference now was that I had none of the supplies that are within an arms reach in the operating room, and I had no back-up from a supervising attending in case something should go wrong. I made a quick decision to improvise with what I had and went to the task at hand. The Wall Street Journal I carried served as a “sterile” delivery area, my shoelaces were used to tie the umbilical cord, and the shirt on my back was used to dry off and swaddle the baby until help arrived. Before paramedics arrived, I talked that woman through her delivery and helped her deliver a happy, healthy, baby girl.
After my adrenaline rush subsided and I was able to buy a new tee-shirt and shoelaces for my walk home, I started reflecting on what had just happened. I thought what would have happened if no one helped that woman deliver her baby, and more importantly, wouldn’t it be nice if all pregnant women carried around a few essential supplies to make this process go smoother if they are ever faced with a situation where they could not make it to the hospital on time...Thus the Emergency Delivery Kit was born!
