CHENNAI: Doctors, by the virtue of their profession, are expected to be available round the clock. It was one such day, the clock had struck 2.30 am, when 31-year-old Priyanka, a resident doctor at the Perambur Railway Hospital received a call informing her of a pregnant Covid-19 patient going into labour. The woman was not only Covid-positive but also suffered from diabetes.
Priyanka, her colleague, and the labour room staff, hopped into an ambulance and wasted no time in getting to the isolation ward. The plan was to shift the woman to the isolation labour room as was the usual process.
“By the time we got there, I could tell that the patient was presenting head-on-perineum. Since it was her third delivery, the labour pain had escalated quickly,” Priyanka said. She, along with her colleague, had no option but to facilitate the delivery of the baby right there in the hospital. Even as the delivery was successful with the baby weighing four kg, the two doctors had anticipated complications since the mother was diabetic. They were shifting the baby to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) when it developed a sudden respiratory arrest.
“I removed my mask and cap; and revived the baby through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compression. I only remember thinking that the efforts we made so far should not go in vain and even said a prayer for my four-year-old son Ajju,” Priyanka said. She had already suffered from Covid-19 in October last year, a 20-day period, which she describes as the worst her body has gone through ever. She knew that if she contracted the virus again this time around, it would be a risky affair. “My family was with me when they saw me suffer during those days.”
However, things were already looking up when Priyanka and her group heard a faint cry from the baby after the first cycle of CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation). Priyanka immediately leaned in for a second cycle when the baby let out a loud cry. “By the time we reached the NICU, there was a group of nurses waiting anxiously in the corridor for an update from us.
As the ambulance was veering in, I showed them a thumbs up through the window. They were all immediately relieved and got happy,” Priyanka gleamed. Three days after the delivery and isolation, Priyanka, the mother and her baby took a Covid test, and thankfully, all of them turned negative. The mother and the child were discharged shortly after.
In those three days, Priyanka’s friends and relatives, including her husband and father, were a bundle of nerves. However, her mother Rajasundareswari, a practising gynaecologist in Thirunindravur, stayed confident. “As soon as I told her (mother) about the case, she said ‘Kannu, you did the right thing’,” said Priyanka.
“Since my childhood, in many ways, I have seen the dedication and affection mother has towards her patients. She would always say that she hoped the patient gets well soon. So, I was sure this was the way to go,” she added.
priyanka’s words of strength
Priyanka, who is also a die-hard fan of Dhoni, reminds herself of this borrowed quote from time to time: “What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger.”