Blakeley is the epitome of a DAISY Nurse. I met Blakeley when she was my nurse on the Labor and Delivery unit at Piedmont Fayette, the day that I went into labor with my third baby- our first girl!

Having a baby always comes with a lot of emotions, but this delivery was especially emotional as I was in labor 6 weeks to the day after my father passed away. My dad was diagnosed with advanced-stage lung cancer when I was 29 weeks pregnant with this baby girl. My father passed away when I was 33 weeks pregnant- after a very short, but tough fight with cancer. I never imagined that my dad would not meet my baby girl, as we didn't even know he was sick until the end of my second trimester. He was ready to fight the cancer, and desperately wanted to meet his first granddaughter. Needless to say, going into labor 6 weeks after he passed away brought up many feelings.

Blakeley was assigned to be my nurse that day. She started her shift by explaining her role and our goal of the day- to deliver a healthy baby! I immediately felt comfortable with Blakeley and ended up sharing my story with her. As I got emotional telling her about my dad, she comforted me and effortlessly made me feel safe and supported. As a nurse myself, she reminded me that sometimes our patients need us to sit down and listen. Blakely listened. She listened when I needed someone to listen. I didn't even know that I needed to get so much off of my chest that day, but God hand-picked Blakeley to be my nurse that day- I have no doubt about that.

As nurses, a lot of times we are task-oriented. We need to get all of these things done to take care of our patients. But sometimes, patients just need the nurse to be human. To sit down, listen, and maybe even cry with us. Nursing needs more Blakeleys. She had such an impact on my story, and I will not ever be able to put into words how much I appreciated her that day. While my stubborn little girl did not make her grand entrance on Blakeley's shift, it meant the world to me when Blakeley made a point to find me on mother-baby the next day to meet my sweet daughter!