My daughter was admitted on the afternoon of Sunday for a routine induction. Overnight, her stay was uneventful. The staff was courteous and helpful. My daughter wanted to get up and walk around, sit on a balI, etc. to help with her contraction pains, so the nurse hooked her up to a portable monitor.

Monday, on day shift, the oncoming nurse, Tammy was introduced to us. We immediately could tell that Tammy had years of experience and had a “no-nonsense” attitude, which we respected. Tammy stated she had 45 years of experience when we asked how long she had been doing this. My daughter had an epidural placed just after shift change, and Tammy stated that she could not start the Pitocin drip right away because of the baby’s heart rate (late decelerations). Tammy did not like how the portable monitor was reading, and since my daughter would be unable to walk around with the epidural, she switched her back to the wired monitor and made a comment about trusting the “old school” equipment better. Tammy was the first person since coming in the afternoon who checked my daughter’s cervix. She felt some scar tissue and felt this was going to make dilation more difficult. She spoke with the physician, and he came in and placed a balloon to speed things up. A few hours later, the decelerations stopped and she started the drip. Tammy was titrating the drip and frequently checking on my daughter. A little after noon, the physician came in and removed the balloon and decided at that time to break her water. Within minutes of him doing so and leaving the bedside, my daughter started getting nauseous and vomiting. Tammy focused on getting a good read on the baby’s heart rate while trying to care for my vomiting daughter. She had even mentioned something like that her priority was the baby right now. The baby’s heart rate had dropped significantly. Tammy remained calm and quietly called for help from the other nurses. Next thing we knew, about 5 or 6 other nurses were at the bedside and someone was calling the physician back to the room. He came quickly and assessed the situation, and before we knew it, my daughter was being taken in for an emergency c-section. It was 20 minutes from when the physician broke her water to when my healthy grandson was born. 20 minutes!

We know deep in our hearts that Tammy's experience, knowledge, instincts, and expertise are what saved his life. We felt another nurse with less experience would have been focusing on my daughter violently vomiting and may have missed when the heart rate dropped. Tammy was professional, calm, and compassionate throughout the entire ordeal. When we were in the recovery area, Tammy came to check on my daughter and the baby, even taking her vitals while she talked with us, although she was no longer her nurse. I cannot thank Tammy enough for all she had done and how she treated my daughter before and after my grandson’s eventful entrance into the world. We will be forever grateful that Tammy was her nurse that day.