Frühchen am Montag

Today the day started completely differently. It is rather an exception to have a premature baby here, but we also have to experience it. In the 30th week of pregnancy, the woman came to the hospital with bleeding. We took over in the morning with a complete cervical dilation from the night. She understood our English - at least we assumed so, but she stared at us the whole time with an incredibly empty gaze and didn't move an inch, even when she had a contraction. Most of the time, I held her hand and stroked her.

And then the baby came. It was good that nobody had told us that it was a breech baby - with the bottom first. Marie and I were alone, looked at each other with big eyes, and did our best. It is rather rare in Germany for a baby in breech presentation to be born spontaneously and even more so in the 30th week of pregnancy. We followed the textbook and cared for the little boy in the neonatal intensive care unit. The doctors and nurses had already made it clear to us in the morning that the baby had no chance of survival. But this 1.1 kg boy gave it his all and we tried to keep him warm on his mother's chest and provide him with oxygen as best as we could. After several inquiries and information about the newborn with the attending doctor, the ambulance was finally called after an hour, which transferred the baby to another hospital with a pediatric ward.

And here begins a new chapter and an experience that I could have done without! So we got into the ambulance with the woman and the premature baby. In addition, an approximately 80-year-old woman and three of her relatives as well as 2 nurses also boarded. Although "boarding" for the 80-year-old woman is not quite accurate. She couldn't move an inch and it took about 10 minutes to get her in and another 10 minutes to get her out. Nobody cared that we were waiting with a premature baby in our arms, who urgently needed warmth and oxygen! Finally arrived there, the next shock came on the pediatric ward. There were certainly a total of 35 children in 4 tiny rooms, and the mothers sat on the floor and fed them. It was complete chaos and there was no sign of hygiene anywhere.