Taking the bad with the good

Sometimes I'm glad that there's a mute button on my 911 phone so the caller can't hear me repeatedly hitting my head against my desk.

I'm serious. You have no idea how many calls I take completely with my head laying on the desk.

I figure that if I can't reach through the phone and smack them then I will just beat my head until I feel better.

It's true in every 911 center that the dispatcher who has a personal connection to a certain disease, medical issue or what have you will be the one who ALWAYS gets that certain call. One of my partners has diabetic family members and she always gets the diabetic emergencies. Others get all the cardiac cases. Same thing with strokes.

Me? I get all the pregnant women. Or childbirth.

Nothing pokes at my infertility deeper than a 19 year old in labor with her second child. Nothing pisses me off more than that little ignorant twat who can't keep her legs together screaming in the background to get the ambulance there NOW because she's had Two Contractions! And to add further insult, her first child was taken away from her.

It's not all bad though. I'm still looking forward to the day when I can help deliver a baby via 911. It's a rare thing for a dispatcher. EMS is usually close enough to people nowadays that they make it before the baby comes. EMS usually gets to catch the baby a lot more times than 911 ever gets to help instruct a delivery.

One day I will tell you guys about the hardest call I ever answered. Today, it's still too raw. Even though it happened three years ago, today is the birthday and unfortunately the day that a tiny precious baby didn't live but a few sweet hours. It's the saddest, yet most heart squeezing call that I've ever had the privilege to be a part of.

One day I will share it. Today, I'm just going to lay my head on my desk and try to remember that even though some calls are painful to take, that good things can come from them.