Coincidental Happiness

I'm one of those people who never really believed that certain things were meant to happen. Rather, I think that there are a remarkable number of coincidental events at work that make it easy for the less skeptical to fool themselves in thinking that some things are meant to be. Today, however, something happened at work that did give me pause.

Someone who works for the agency I work at came in today to pick up her check and to tell HR that her pregnant condition had now forced her to complete bed rest per her doctor's orders. She then said she felt ill and excused herself to the ladies room. A few seconds later, Pat, an RN whom I supervise, took a seat in the stall beside her. Within a minute, the first woman started moaning and crying out for help. Her babies (twins, as it turned out) had decided not to wait the additional two months the doctor thought they had. Pat ran to the door, called out for someone to call 911 and proceeded to delivery the first baby before the EMT's arrived on the scene. She calmed the woman down, got her to stop pushing and cleared the baby's airway to make sure it was breathing. All of this happened in a matter of minutes. Th e EMT's rushed in and swept the woman to a gurney, checked the baby over (he was fine!) and off they went to the hospital.

Pat, who was as calm as ever while this was happening, fell apart with emotion and adrenaline. She deservedly went home for the rest of the day - with pay.

The reason this episode gave me pause was this - any one of us or any one of the numerous clients we serve in our small haven of Social Services could have been the person who took the stall next to the woman. Yet, it was a registered nurse who rarely, if ever, takes breaks who was there this day. She knew what to do and how to get the woman to calm down and respond appropriately. She knew to clear the baby's airway and wrap it in something clean and warm. She just knew what to do! And because she did, somewhere tonight, there is at least one healthy, albeit early, little baby who has a chance.

If I was the kind of person who believed in fate, this certainly would be one of those things that could make me say "See? It was fate that Pat was there and not someone else." But I know, it was coincidence. A happy coincidence, but coincidence none the less.