The shrill of my pager jolted me from a dreamless sleep and I fumbled for my eyeglasses. I focused on the tiny lowing screen of my nemesis leash and dialed the dreaded numbers to Labor and Delivery.
“This is Doctor Gallagher. I was paged,” I mumbled into the receiver.
“We have a decel in room five,” the nurse replied. “Heartbeat has been in the sixties for—”
“Get the terbutaline ready and open up the OR for a crash!” I said, and slammed down the phone.
I bounced out of bed, pulled back my messy hair, slipped into my black Danskos and grabbed my long white coat. My heart raced and thumped in my chest as I ran down the hall and through the double doors to the maternity ward.
I heard my patient moan as I entered the delivery room. Her pregnant belly was swaying back and forth as she squirmed in the hospital bed. The baby’s heart rate had not recovered, and I nervously slipped on a sterile glove.
“Did you push the terb?” I asked the nurse while examining my patient.
“Yes, Doctor, about thirty seconds ago,” she replied.
I felt the baby’s head well applied to the pelvis, but my patient’s cervix was only six centimeters dilated. I rubbed the baby’s head, hoping to stimulate him.
Thirty more seconds passed and the heart rate continued to beat in the 60s. Normal heart rate for a fetus is more than 120 per minute. I sensed my patient’s helplessness. I sensed my own helplessness. I knew I had to get this kid out fast.
“What’s the problem?” my patient asked.
“Your baby’s heart rate has been down for four minutes. This is a sign of distress. At this time I would recommend performing an emergency cesarean section—”
“I don’t need to hear anymore, just do it,” my patient said. She started to sob. I took a deep breath to calm myself.
“Crash!” I screamed.
“Crash!” screamed the nurse.
Burning the Short White Coat Description:
What happens when Sex and the City meets Grey’s Anatomy? That’s the premise of Burning the Short White Coat.
Elle Gallagher is a spunky first year med student embarking on her journey to become a doctor at a prestigious Midwestern medical school. But while the academically gifted Elle may have found what seems like the perfect career, it’s clear she still has much to learn about finding a man.
Confronting the realities of her rigorous medical school training while trying to maintain her need for male companionship, the ambitious Elle is soon immersed in a world of cadaver dissections, exhausting study marathons, resident hazing and encounters with patients ranging from the heartbreaking to the hilarious.
But when her search for romantic interaction leads Elle and her friends to a masochistic night of speed dating, she accidentally stumbles into the arms of Missouri’s biggest playboy, an incident that damages her self esteem, threatens her studies and launches her on a roller coaster ride of self discovery.
Burning the Short White Coat is a coming-of-age novel that explores the personal struggle a single woman must face when balancing a demanding career in medicine with the desire to find a trusting and loving relationship.
