I will never be able to put into words how much my husband and I both appreciated the role that Dawn played in the birth of our daughter, O. You are told to make a birth plan and talk through all of your options with your provider, but when the time came for our daughter to be born, nothing went according to our plans.  Through all of the unexpected changes and complications the day of O’s birth, Dawn was there for us in ways that this letter could not possibly articulate.

I was scheduled to be induced by my provider.  We were already very nervous about having a baby much less the additional stress of an induction at 41 weeks.  My husband and I checked in for the induction at our scheduled time of 10:00 pm and in the early hours of the morning my water spontaneously broke and plans quickly changed from an induction to normal labor and delivery protocols.

Within a few hours, my pain level was higher than I expected, and I made the decision to receive an epidural.  As the anesthesiologist was preparing to perform the epidural, it was right at the 7:00 am shift change, and that was when I first met Dawn. She walked into my room, and I swear she could sense my pain and anxiety.  There were multiple nurses in the room, but I remember her immediately stepping in to provide direction to me and my husband to allow the anesthesiologist to perform his work.  From that moment on, I knew Dawn was special. She never belittled my pain and thoroughly answered all my questions.  As the epidural began to work and my pain decreased, we all thought that I would have a quick labor, and we would be holding a baby within a few hours.

But from that point on, nothing went as anyone expected.  Ultimately, I ended up pushing for nearly 8 hours with Dawn and a student nurse from UNC, by my side for the entire time. Dawn was not only comforting and providing thoughtful instructions to me throughout my entire labor, but she was also mentoring the student nurse and reassuring my husband for that whole time too.

For all that time, Dawn was coaching me and assisting me with changing pushing positions, ensuring that both I and my baby were okay, and providing the most comforting presence in the room. As it became more apparent to me that my doctor and other medical staff were concerned about the length of time that I had been pushing, Dawn never became unnerved or impatient. She provided the affirmation that I needed to keep going, and even as things continued to become more complicated with the delivery, she never left my side or stopped providing the much-needed coaching and reassurance.

It wasn’t until days later, when I was speaking with my doctor that I realized how serious things had been during that long delivery.  I attribute much of this to Dawn. Throughout all the complications during the delivery, she kept calm and provided us with the facts of what was happening while taking the needed actions or the necessary escalations, which allowed us to remain calm.

Dawn’s support and compassion that day went above and beyond the call of duty.  Dawn is an exceptional nurse with an even more exceptional bedside manner.  Through what was the most physically painful, emotionally taxing, and mentally stressful time that I have ever experienced, Dawn was there for me, my husband, and our baby in a way that I will always remember and appreciate.