A pregnant South Florida woman experienced an unusual hospital delivery Sunday: her husband was forced to deliver the baby himself.
According to Local10.com, the man said he was forced to deliver the baby on his own because the staff at Bethesda Hospital East wasn't ready. Zaheer Ali and his wife Indira were told "you have to wait" due to another patient requiring emergency C-section.
"[The hospital staff] walked out of the room, left us in there alone," Ali said. "The baby came right there. I am pushing the button for her to come, ran to the door. Next thing you know, the nurse and two other assistant nurses came running in and two seconds later cut the cord, and that was it. So it happened very quickly."
Zaheer Ali is an IT professional for Broward County, Florida. He said he frantically pressed his wife's call button as their baby girl Aaliyah, six pounds, three ounces, was born.
On Saturday evening, Indira told her husband that she was experiencing frequent contractions. Their obstetrician, Dr. Elana Deutsch, agreed to meet them at the hospital. According to Zaheer, they had selected Bethesda East Hospital two weeks prior, following a tour of the building.
After resting in a staging area at the hospital, the couple was moved to a delivery area. The doctor felt labor was stalling and put Indira on Pitocin, a synthetic hormone that increases contractions. The doctor then rushed off to another patient's C-section, stopping the Pitocin to slow things down. Indira never received the epidural she asked for.
"The nurse left the room and went two doors down," Deutsch said, according to The Palm Beach Post. "She called me, but by the time she was back in the room, the baby was in bed. It must have happened very rapidly, because I was only in the C-section for 30 minutes."
"The patient was obviously very upset," she added. "I was very upset. I think it was a new nurse, and I think she was nervous about being in the room alone."
The hospital issued a statement saying that both the baby and her mother are doing well.
The hospital maintains the same staffing ratios on weekends as it does on weekdays, which is no more than two patients per labor-and-delivery nurse.
"The hospital is saying, 'Sorry,' but I just feel it's wrong," Zaheer said. "It's a hospital. There are supposed to be nurses and midwives. A nurse should be there with you."
