Farewell Rock Springs

Sunday evening we left Rock Springs, Wyoming. We had mixed feelings. Relieved to be out of our apartment (someone had spilled beer all over the entryway on our way out...yuck), excited to be moving on to our Surgery rotation in Casper, sad to be leaving the Desert Hills Ward who were so kind and welcoming to us, and sad that Brad's awesome OBGYN rotation had ended.

Since I never shared any of Brad's baby delivery stories, here is what I wrote in my journal about Brad's first delivery.

I woke up at 1:30 am Wednesday night to Brad whispering in my ear, "I just delivered a baby!" I don't know if I've ever heard more excitement in his voice. Turns out, it was a pretty exciting night at Sweetwater Memorial Hospital here in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

The story goes like this...

Brad was called in to assist on a c-section at about 10 pm last night. While he and the attending OBGYN were starting the c-section, they received news that another patient had called. Her water had just broken and she and her husband were on their way to the hospital.

Sounds like no big deal, right? Well, they live in a little town called Big Piney, which is an hour and a half drive to Rock Springs.

It was the woman's first baby, so no one was really worried about her delivering on the way. Until her husband called a while later in a complete panic. "My wife's contractions are a minute apart and she feels like she needs to push," he yelled into the phone! They were still twenty miles away.

The doctor tried to calm him down. He told him to drive fast and that they would have an ambulance standing by to meet them if they had to stop driving to deliver the baby. If the baby came, the doctor told them to just put the baby on the mom's chest and keep them both warm until the paramedics got there. (Can you imagine?!)

So Brad, the doctor, and the EMT's were all waiting at the Emergency Room entrance, ready to jump in the ambulance and get to the couple if they had to stop.

It turns out they made it to the hospital just in time and Brad was able to deliver their healthy baby girl.

He told me he was a little disappointed that his first delivery wasn't in the back of a truck on the side of the road. I still think it's a good story!

Bye Rock Springs!