Britney Gibson
July 2023
Britney
Gibson
,
BSN, RN, CPN
CPCU
Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora
,
CO
United States

 

 

 

She didn't make me feel silly or ungrateful when I expressed that having a sick child inpatient was just HARD. She just listened.
My family and I moved from Montana to Denver temporarily for my son to receive care because he was born without the function of the left side of his heart. Our son had multiple admissions and every admission was challenging because we have other children and jobs, and we never left our son while he was admitted because we felt it was important to be with him. However, we started to get tired. Our son had been intubated for several days in the CICU, and when he came off sedation and pain medication he really struggled. I spent hours rocking him on CPCU attempting to get him to sleep but he didn't and became increasingly irritable. When he did sleep, the slightest thing would wake him. Britney was our son's nurse, and I was always hesitant to complain because I felt like although our situation was challenging, it wasn't as bad as others. But it was as though Britney could see that I was exhausted without ever having to verbalize it. She was incredibly relatable because she told me she'd spent months in the hospital with her own child and knew that it could really take a toll. She didn't make me feel silly or ungrateful when I expressed that having a sick child inpatient was just HARD. She just listened. She put a note on the door so we could have a break from interruptions she set us up so we could walk our son in the stroller in the halls while being monitored to get a break from the hospital room. She hung out with our son so I could switch my husband out in front of the hospital. She just understood. It wasn't until much later that I learned that Britney had lost her own son to a CHD. She never told me her story, she simply told me she walked a similar path and could relate. Thank you, Britney, for overcoming a profound loss and still finding a way. You're an amazing nurse, and I'm so grateful for the care you provided to my family during a challenging time.