Heart breaking moments: watching a baby die
By jzumari
@jzumari (101)
Philippines
January 19, 2010 4:16am CST
I recently have my hospital duty in an emergency clinic, and I was disturbed with the scene I have witnessed. A young mother rushed her baby to the clinic and the baby appears to be very pale. He breathes in a very shallow manner and we did our best to revive him. Unfortunately, the baby died and the young mother could not accept it. She kept on whispering words to her baby , hoping that he will wake up from death. After 5 hours, the young mother refused to bring her dead baby to the mortuary because she believes that he will wake up soon... And until my work shift is over, she kept on insisting that her baby will wake up...
If you are in my place, how would you comfort this young woman? How can you awaken her from the reality?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@marriedman111399 (1207)
• United States
19 Jan 10
That would be a hard thing to do but I would tell her that her baby is in a better place now where he or she is not having any more problems breathing and that her baby is going to be well protected and looked after because there are mothers up in heaven or ladies that have not have any kids that would look after the child too make sure it is ok. That would be a very hard thing for me to go through myself.
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
19 Jan 10
I would tell her that her baby is in a better place now
hhhmm IMO and from personal experience thats NOT a good idea...yes later on during the grieving process saying something like that can be good BUT not immediately...becuase to US a "better place" is alive, with us, in our arms..If someone would have said that to me at the hospital I would have snapped!
@daliaj (5674)
• India
19 Jan 10
This is one reason why I didn't choose a medical profession. I have a very sensitive and feel very upset after seeing the kind of incident described above. I start crying if I see somebody getting hurt. I feel the pain as if I am getting hurt. I am scared of injections. I don't prefer to see somebody getting and injection, then how can I give injection to soembody.
@jzumari (101)
• Philippines
19 Jan 10
Its true daliaj that being in the medical field takes a lot of psychological disturbances. But for passionate medical workers, these painful scenes are replaced by happy memories like witnessing the birth of a baby and watching new couples take care of their babies with pleasure, :), it all depends on the passion and dedication, that's why forcing oneself in entering the medical field is not advisable at every extent. Thank you for sharing your opinion! :)
@faikeijames (247)
• United States
19 Jan 10
I hate hearing about stories like this...i understand it's real and a part of everyday life, but it's still hard to hear/see. Being a mother of three myself...i can't imagine what other mothers in this situation go through.
@lizbenetua (637)
• Philippines
20 Jan 10
It will not be easy to convince the mother that her child has passed away. She has to undergo all the stages of grief. Denial is the first thing that comes up. Denial is always an expected reaction from those who have lost their loved ones, especially when a child passes away.
As to how I will do it, I will allow her to feel what she feels first because it is a defense mechanism. In order for the person grieving to overcome the feeling of grief, she must face the first stage which is denial. In the website wikipedia.org, it has mentioned Kubler-Ross model's 5 stages of grief. At this point, Kubler-Ross mentions the stages which are denial, anger, bargaining,depression and acceptance.
@warwic (33)
• India
20 Jan 10
by reading ur story it is very difficult for me to stand in place of u but its not as impossible as stand in place of baby's mother.i think nobody of us can stand there.we couldent even imagine through what she is going.there is only one thing which makes her stand there is 'HOPE'.thats why she not accepting the truth.
@Chalagurl (45)
• United States
20 Jan 10
Omg...honestly, that's probably why I could never be in that line of work. I am an over emotional person, and would be no good at comforting this mother. I would probably be right there next to her in denial as well. That is such a sad story. I definitely don't know how I could possibly comfort her...
@meena_artisan (39)
• Philippines
19 Jan 10
This story is heartbreaking... I can't go over these situations that's why I chose a different calling...If I was at your shoes in that situation, I'll probobly be crying the whole time and might leave my post even..I easily cry.... So I think you're a good consoler..^^...The world needs people like you.. ^^
