I was a patient on the antepartum unit for 4 weeks and Crystal was my nurse for about half of my stay. When she was there, I felt like I was being treated as a whole person and not just for the illness that brought me in. She was so kind to me, bringing me peace during one of the hardest parts of my life. She was an excellent advocate and my shoulder to cry on. There were two instances that really stand out. The first was a particularly rough day. She noticed right away that something was off and checked in with me. She asked if I wanted to leave the room for a little while as I was on bedrest and hadn’t been outside in a long time. She personally took me outside in a wheelchair and just talked to me about life. It helped with my mental state and made it a little easier to get through the rest of my stay.

The second instance is by far the one that will always stand out to me. After delivering my baby traumatically at 34 weeks via c-section, I was moved to the postpartum floor and I was struggling mentally with the pain, trauma, and having my baby in the NICU. Crystal continued to check in on me, even though I was no longer her patient. She continued to help me advocate for myself. She sat with me while I cried. She even escorted me to the NICU and made sure I had beautiful pictures with my baby. I couldn’t have made it through that whole experience without Crystal.