Drama in Childbirth Class
as my loyal readers are aware, kim and i have been attending childbirth classes on monday nights in santa rosa.
you don't expect traumatic things to happen at the classes -- maybe one of the mothers going into labor toward the end or something -- but for the most part the classes are very relaxing and drama-free.
this evening, though, just as we finished watching a labor and birth from the video collection, the chair of the guy sitting next to me tilted back and he fell flat on his back, his head making a really troubling smacking sound on the floor. i guess i thought that he had just been leaning his chair back and lost his balance, but it might be that he passed out from the blood in the video.
in any case, i rushed over to the ground next to him, along with a couple others, and saw that he was out cold. he was only out for a few seconds, then his eyes opened and he started having some kind of seizure. the spasming was only for a few seconds, and then he started mumbling that he was OK and started to get up. we kept him down, and just tried to get him to relax.
one of the guys in the class is a paramedic, and he was great. keeping the fallen dad-to-be calm and on his back. he asked a bunch of questions about how he felt and about his medical history. meanwhile, the teacher ran and called 911, and the ambulance showed up in about three minutes, followed by a fire truck.
the paramedics took his temperature a few times, and it was showing up as 106.9. damn. we were starting to feel a little faint ourselves. i guess the temperature is the product of all the blood rushing to the head or something, but that was pretty scary.
so they immobilized him and took him away on the stretcher, and on we went to the deep breathing and relaxation exercises. crazy. i hope he's OK. with luck the worst part of it for him will be just a little embarassment. head injuries, concussions, short-circuit-like seizures are scary. i hope to never see it again ... and now i'll be extra sure to keep my own knees bent when it's time for Hannah's birth.
you don't expect traumatic things to happen at the classes -- maybe one of the mothers going into labor toward the end or something -- but for the most part the classes are very relaxing and drama-free.
this evening, though, just as we finished watching a labor and birth from the video collection, the chair of the guy sitting next to me tilted back and he fell flat on his back, his head making a really troubling smacking sound on the floor. i guess i thought that he had just been leaning his chair back and lost his balance, but it might be that he passed out from the blood in the video.
in any case, i rushed over to the ground next to him, along with a couple others, and saw that he was out cold. he was only out for a few seconds, then his eyes opened and he started having some kind of seizure. the spasming was only for a few seconds, and then he started mumbling that he was OK and started to get up. we kept him down, and just tried to get him to relax.
one of the guys in the class is a paramedic, and he was great. keeping the fallen dad-to-be calm and on his back. he asked a bunch of questions about how he felt and about his medical history. meanwhile, the teacher ran and called 911, and the ambulance showed up in about three minutes, followed by a fire truck.
the paramedics took his temperature a few times, and it was showing up as 106.9. damn. we were starting to feel a little faint ourselves. i guess the temperature is the product of all the blood rushing to the head or something, but that was pretty scary.
so they immobilized him and took him away on the stretcher, and on we went to the deep breathing and relaxation exercises. crazy. i hope he's OK. with luck the worst part of it for him will be just a little embarassment. head injuries, concussions, short-circuit-like seizures are scary. i hope to never see it again ... and now i'll be extra sure to keep my own knees bent when it's time for Hannah's birth.
posted by Ben at 9:50 PM
1 Comments:
We got a call from the class instructor saying the dude was ok. Still not sure what happened.
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