In March 2021, I was life-lined from IU Health-Bloomington Hospital to Methodist in Indianapolis. (My event happened at Methodist but Allison now works at Riley, so I entered this nomination for both locations) I was 39 weeks pregnant with bilateral DVTs. My labor experience was everything I did NOT expect it to be. Covid prevented family and friends from being by my side in a city I was unfamiliar with. The entire experience was scary... and then there was Allison. I was seen by the Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor at Methodist, who was wonderful as well, and originally said that I would be unable to have an epidural due to being immediately placed on Heparin to help rid of my blood clots. As if I wasn't already scared enough, that absolutely horrified me because I had done zero research on other forms of pain medication alternatives because I had expected to receive the epidural. One option the MFM gave me was to be completely sedated and have a cesarean, which made me sad to not be able to see my baby enter this world, but the peace of mind of not feeling the pain overrode that at first.

Allison was my nurse that day and stayed in my room and discussed other alternatives of pain medication I could have and promised she would use natural strategies to help me be in less pain during labor. She seemed so knowledgeable and honest that she would help me pull through this, that I ended up agreeing to it. Come to find out hours later, the MFM and head anesthesiologist would be able to give me an epidural as long as my heparin was turned off one hour before pushing and turned on one hour after giving birth. This was not known until shortly before I was able to start pushing though, and Allison kept me on pain medication and explained to my husband how he could help me get through the pain. As I was pushing, the Doctor said my baby was "sunny side up" and Allison jumped in and said she could fix that. She grabbed a blanket and her and I played "tug of war" during my contractions while I was pushing. She ended up flipping my baby into the correct position!!!!

I spent one week at Methodist and had so many blood tests because of my blood clots. Both of my arms were black and blue and it got to the point that a special team had to come in to draw my blood because nurses couldn't find any easy access to my veins from the bruising. Before I left the hospital, Allison took the time to sit with me and scrub all of the sticky Band-Aid scum from my arms and make sure I was well taken care of before departing. She was an amazing nurse, but what made her above and beyond for me was how comfortable she made me feel during such an uncomfortable time in my life. I will go to my grave remembering her kindness and helping me get through what was without a doubt the scariest moment of my life.