To The Nurses

I am sure I have talked about my nurses in Labor and Delivery on here, but since it is nurse's week I want to just brag on how amazing they were.

Being from the medical field myself, sometimes it is really easy to get callus to patients. To me it was a protection mechanism to not fall apart every time I would see another miscarriage or someone who would get devastating news that would rock their world. You still care for your patient's with everything you have, but try to not make it personal. I think this would be so much harder for nurses. They are in the nitty gritty of it 24/7 it seems like. Sometimes they get a bad rap.

The nurses I had in Labor and Delivery they were absolutely amazing!! They did everything they could do to make our experience in the hospital that much better. I do not remember all of my nurses names, but the impact they left on my heart I will never forget.

Once we found out the Eleanor didn't have a heartbeat everything was a blur. I remember a couple of nurses who came in to get my medical history and to start IVs for my c section. They were so good. I was a mess, honestly I don't even know if I was able to answer their questions, but they did not get mad at me for how long it took to answer the questions. Also I hate needles. Terrified of them. They did a great job with that, too. Calming me down, because I shake so bad when I am worked up.

Another nurse came in and started talking to us about all of the options that we had and what we were going to do next. She talked about everything they were going to do to preserve Eleanor's memory: take pictures, let us hold her, make moldings of her feet, and making sweet little bracelets with her name and initials on them for us. I did not want to have all of this stuff done, but she said they were going to do it anyways so if in eighteen years we changed our minds we would have all of the memories. Thank God she made this decision for us!!! I would have so many regrets if I didn't have those pictures or the time of cuddling my baby.

The anesthesia nurse was also so great. Like I said when I am nervous I shake uncontrollably. They needed to get a spinal in, and shaking does not help with this. She was able to calm me down long enough to get the spinal in. She also explained everything so well to me. When you get a spinal for a c section everything goes numb from you ribs down. Pretty scary. Luckily she told me this, that it would feel like I couldn't breath, because my diaphragm would be numb. This is the truth. Scared me, but she helped me breath through it. Once the c section was done, she made sure my husband was up by my head so we could both see our little girl together, and she held her close to my face so I could see her. Also I wanted to now how much hair she had, and she was able to show me that, too.

All of my family was there and the nurses had food for us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day we were there (3 ish days). Enough for everyone!!! Which I feel like is unheard of for a hospital. They just did everything for us. Also the first night we stayed in the hospital, they let my dad stay in the hospital room next to us just in case we needed anything. My husband was also able to stay in the same room as me. They rolled in a hospital bed for him to sleep in right next to me so we could sleep together. So helpful. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't able to stay with me.

The other nurse who took care of us the first night was so selfless. I know her job is to watch me at night since those are her work hours, but I just can't imagine working a night shift and being able to stay awake. She was so gentle with Eleanor when she would pick her up and move her around. She would talk to her as well like she was alive, which meant a lot to me too. She had wrapped Eleanor up in wetted gauze to keep her cool and preserved, so when we woke up in the morning she would look normal. She came in every hour during the night to re wet the gauze so Eleanor would look normal. I cannot express how much this meant to my husband and I.

We had so many other nurses that were so helpful. They would come in when they were leaving for their shift and make sure we were ok before they left. They were just so amazing. I am so happy we had a good experience for what we were going through. I hope those nurses know how much they meant to us. To keep doing what they are doing. The way they handle patient care is the best I have ever seen. Thank you!!!!