Kayla is one of the main reasons I was able to safely deliver my baby boy. I met Kayla when I arrived at the labor and delivery unit of UMass Memorial Worcester. I had already been in labor for nearly 16 hours by the time I went up to L&D. This was my first baby. I was anxious, overwhelmed, scared, and in pain. My mother had a million questions, and my husband was nervous.

Kayla was kind, reassuring, thorough, and attentive. She listened actively and made us all feel at ease. She was my strongest advocate. I did not want pitocin and she made sure everyone on the care team knew my wishes and respected them. She acted respectfully towards me, informing me of every step of the labor and every detail that I asked about. She helped me through my epidural, holding my hand and talking me through it. The epidural was what I was most afraid of. The labor was pretty textbook until after midnight.

During the night, my BP and pulse dropped a bit and the baby started having late decelerations. Kayla sat by my bed all night administering medications and bolusing fluids, monitoring the baby, helping me to change positions, reassuring me, etc. The doctors assured me that everything was OK, but all that changed at 7:05 AM. Kayla was set to hand me off to the morning nurse, E, at 7:00 AM when everything went wrong. Doctors flooded into my room informing me that I needed a stat c-section and a code white was called. Terrified isn't a strong enough word to explain how I was feeling. One of the doctors told me that my baby had not had a heartbeat in 7 minutes. My husband and I thought my son had died.

As I consented to the c-section, even though Kayla was done with her shift, she stayed with me, right by my side through all of it. She talked me through everything from running down the hallway on the way to the OR, to the prep, to what would happen when the baby was born and how they would help the baby be OK if they could. She could have left, it wasn't her responsibility to stay with me. She had already given report to the oncoming nurse who also came to the OR, but she told me she wanted to make sure I was OK and didn't want me to be afraid. She comforted my husband and me through the c-section and thankfully a healthy baby boy was delivered. I honestly don't think I could have gone through labor without her.

Honestly, the story does not even properly summarize the impact Kayla had on my delivery and my family. I will forever be grateful for her and her work as a nurse. Even though labor and delivery did not go how I had wanted or planned, I can look back happily because of Kayla. She is an absolutely wonderful nurse. Knowledgeable, kind, caring, attentive, everything! I hope if/when I have another baby, Kayla will be my nurse again.