I arrived in the L&D unit at 7 am to be induced. I was 39 weeks pregnant with our son and as ready as I was to meet him, I was a little nervous about being induced. When Christy Dover, my nurse for the day, walked in and introduced herself, she almost instantly made me feel at ease. She had such a bright personality and kind spirit that was evident the minute she walked in. I am a nurse in the ED here at PMC, so I have the same basic nursing knowledge and skills that Christy has, but when it comes to monitoring and helping deliver a baby, I am clueless (and will happily stay that way). Christy explained everything to my husband and me so thoroughly that I felt like I was in the best of hands all day. Then, when my blood pressure started to drop, I felt dizzy and light-headed, and our little boy wasn't responding ideally on the monitor, Christy was back in our room doing everything she could to comfort me and to take care of both of us. She never did leave our side after that, all the way up until our sweet boy made his appearance. Thankfully, I had no major complications, but what I experienced was scary enough for me and I can't think of another nurse who would have handled the situation better, or who would have made my husband and me more comfortable when things started happening quickly, most of which we didn't fully understand. It was truly a blessing to us that I arrived at 7 am and was transferred to the mom/baby floor at 7:30 pm because Christy was able to be my nurse for my entire experience when giving birth to our son.
As a fellow nurse, I know how difficult it can be to come to work for 12 hours and to leave for the day feeling like you may not be appreciated for everything you did that day. I will never forget Christy or what she did for my family and me on that day, and I will never be able to convey how much she meant to us the entire day.