Kaley Dolby
October 2022
Kaley
Dolby
,
RN, BSN
High Risk OB
St. Joseph's Women's Hospital
Tampa
,
FL
United States

 

 

 

Kaley looked at me with such reassurance in her eyes and told me, "It will be okay."
I remember the first day I got admitted as if it was yesterday. I walked into the high-risk unit, Kaley was the first person to greet me and she said, "We have been expecting you." She was my nurse on the first day, she was so polite and interested in my pregnancy and why I was being admitted. She made me feel comfortable and managed to figure out I was a nurse within the first two hours even though I wanted to keep it a secret.

During my stay, she always asked about me, made me laugh, and made me feel like I was not a patient but a person. The day I went into preterm labor was extremely unexpected but also the most nerve-wracking moment of my life; the nurses and doctors came into the room telling me what the next steps were going to be. I was freaking out internally but did not let any emotions out because I knew I had to be brave. The minute Kaley walked in, she looked confused and looked at me, and everything I was holding back just hit me like a truck. I looked at her and told her "it's not time, it's not time." She looked at me with such reassurance in her eyes and told me, "It will be okay." As strange as it sounds, I held on to that moment because she became my person, and she made me believe that it will be okay. She is an incredible, caring, and kind nurse, and coming from another nurse who never thought she would have to go through a hospital stay it truly means the world to me.