Nurse of the Week: Evelyn Davis Does Special Deliveries

There are some deliveries that are far beyond the abilities of USPS orPostmates.

Everyone knows that the old saw “any port in a storm” is a truism when a pregnant woman is in labor and trying to reach a hospital – but luckily, nurses are accustomed to serving at stormy ports.

On February 9, though, our Nurse of the Week, Public Health nurse Evelyn Davis RN, was still a little nonplussed when the grandmother of an expecting – imminently expecting – mom realized her daughter couldn’t wait a moment longer and swung into the parking lot at the Adamsville Regional Health Center in Fulton County, Georgia.

As the grandma imploringly flagged her down, Davis thought, “So this is a health center. You usually don’t show up here to deliver your baby!” However, although the Adamsville Regional HC is not in any way prepared for midwifery or deliveries, and Davis now specializes in caring for HIV/AIDS patients, the RN is a veteran nurse who delivered hundreds of babies on Hopi and Navaho reservations in Arizona earlier in her career.

Davis’ experience bringing all of those brand-new Hopi and Navaho infants into the world was fortuitous. The mother-to-be and grandmother were well into the “oh my gosh – it’s happening!! Help!” stage of a pending delivery, and soothing words from an experienced nurse were exactly what the mom needed.

“Lord! What are we gonna do?”

The ambiance of a parking lot at a downtown public health clinic bears little resemblance to a hospital labor and delivery unit. As Davis says, the situation was “chaotic.” She recalled that “There were people screaming, ‘She’s going to have the baby! Help her! Oh, Lord! What are we gonna do? This is not a hospital. She should not be here!’ So, I just asked everyone to calm down and got the mother to calm down.”

As the poor mother was frantic, Davis continued, “I introduced myself… because she was hysterical, understandably, and I calmed her down and let her know that we were here to help her. She was screaming trying to prevent the baby from coming and I told her not to do that because you’re gonna get a very strong contraction and that baby’s gonna fly out.” (Delightful as it might sound to a harried mom in labor, in general flight is not an optimal mode of exit from the womb).

Nurse Evalyn Davis points to delivery entrance.

Davis points to the ARHC’s new “ad hoc Delivery Entrance.”

As the mother began to understand that grandma had made the right call in pulling over into this particular parking lot, Nurse Davis pulled on gloves, and staffers inside the Center ran for supplies because this baby couldn’t wait. “I checked her,” Davis says, “and the baby was right there, and I knew it was a matter of one or two or three pushes and everything would happen.”

“Come on, baby! Breathe, breathe, breathe.”

In fact, more happened than any of the players had bargained for. As the newborn entered the world in front of the Adamsville Regional Health Center, there was a slight hiccup (of course the mother probably would not choose that phrase). Davis said that the actual birth came after a few pushes, but the baby girl who emerged had gray skin, and “She still wasn’t breathing, so we had her wrapped up. I started rubbing on her chest and I was like, ‘Come on, baby, breathe, breathe, breathe. Come on, take a breath, take a breath, baby.’ And I just rubbed the baby’s chest, and then she let out a scream.”