Well, that was something you don’t see around here often. It happened so fast that if I had blinked, I would have missed it. Have I told you about the day I saw a baby being born? Me, just a regular old blood pressure bag, saw the miracle of life happen right before my eyes.
I was just hanging there, minding my own business, when she rolled in. There were two nurses and a lady with her. She was young, and her pretty face wore a twisted mask of pain. The lady hovered over her protectively, a mixture of fear and shock blending together under her eyes. I was expecting one of the nurses to grab me and wrap me around the pretty girl’s arm, but they never did. There was no time.
They quickly worked around her. One of the nurses muttered a count to herself as the other cried “Push!” She only had to say it once before a cry filled the room and a baby was placed on the young girl’s chest. He was such a bitty thing.
| think all of us in the room, human and non, sighed at the same moment. We were so used to the normal triage. We were so used to watching blood flow through tiny tubes here. We were used to the antiseptic smell that kept us sterile. This was such a treat.
I wonder when we will see it again.
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This week’s Write on Edge RemembeRED prompt was based on Personification. We were challenged to tell a piece of your story from the point of view of an object who bore witness in 400 words or less. Now, remember that this is memoir so this is not my usual fiction.
I always welcome critique, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comment. Thanks for stopping by!
01/25/2012 at 9:12 pm
A very clever take on the prompt. I’d never imagine an object like that. And then you turn it around from the expected tragedy to something joyful. A fun read.
I’m #44 on the links.
01/25/2012 at 11:18 pm
I never really considered it to be morbid, LOL. I guess people naturally associate hospitals with tragedy? It’s the best source of miracles if you really needed to find one.
01/25/2012 at 7:24 pm
Usually you think of a BP cuff seeing the ordinary and mundane or something terrible in the ER. What a joy for it to see the birth of a baby!
01/25/2012 at 1:58 pm
How creative! I take it the blood pressure cuff lived it’s life in the ER, which is why a baby being born was new and exciting? What a great concept and a lot of fun!
01/25/2012 at 11:17 pm
Yep that sounds about right! Thank you!
01/25/2012 at 10:31 am
Oh! From the perspective of one of the objects in the room! How lovely. And I really like how they are in a section of the hospital where blood and gore usually mean death instead of life.
01/25/2012 at 12:09 pm
When I got to the ER the baby was already crowning. I never made it up to the delivery floor until after he’d already arrived. I remember a sign saying “Blood and” something my mind has always translated to mean “guts” lol.
01/24/2012 at 11:58 pm
Very cool- I love this perspective and how he notes that neither he nor the nurses are used to situations that go so quickly or smoothly or end in such a treat. I really love that this was such a happy uplifting piece.
01/24/2012 at 11:33 pm
This was the last thing I expected from this prompt and I loved it! A blood pressure cuff, witness to the miracle of life!
I especially like that there was no time for the cuff to be used, so it got to observe the birth without interruption. This was such a fun read.
01/24/2012 at 9:18 pm
How touching. I loved that this was such a treasured moment for the cuff, how it’s something that it longs for again, even waits for. So sweet and a great take on the prompt indeed!
01/24/2012 at 7:16 pm
This is great!
I love seeing childbirth from the eyes of an instrument who had never seen it before, and how the blood pressure cuff recognized the miracle.
01/24/2012 at 4:12 pm
I liked it!!! I could feel all those emotions with the blood pressure cuff…almost waiting its turn and now getting it. Such good and vivid stuff!
01/24/2012 at 3:43 pm
This was so fun! I loved your take on the prompt and it was an uplifting read.