The quick backstory is I was picked up from Triage and in my room with Carla by 11:00 pm on after my contractions didn't strengthen, I was induced around 2:00 am. Throughout this part of my labor, Carla was super friendly and personable and did her best to get to know me as a person. She answered all of my questions with thoughtful knowledgeable answers and made me feel as comfortable and prepared as possible.
Then things got scary. I got up to use the bathroom around 3:30 am, and when she hooked me back up to the monitor, my son's heart rate dropped down to 60 bpm. Carla stayed calm and did not alert me to any concern until she investigated further. Come to find out, his heart rate was dropping due to an umbilical prolapse. O's head was pressing down on the cord, cutting off his oxygen supply. She immediately pressed the emergency call button, and calmly explained to me what was going on and that I would be going in for an emergency C-section and I would be put under general anesthesia and intubated. When your nurse looks at you and says, "I am literally holding your baby's head in my hand so he gets oxygen", you know things are serious. No one could go with me. I didn't know if my baby would make it. It was the scariest moment of my life. But Carla held my baby's head up off the umbilical cord to keep him alive until I was in surgery. She had the bruises on her knuckles from my contractions to prove it. She prayed with me as we wheeled down the hallway together on the same bed because I couldn't stop calling out to the Lord to save my baby. As I was being put under, I cried out one last time, "please pray for O" and she responded, "We're praying for O. God's got you both." She stayed in recovery until I woke up, so I had a familiar face to tell me, "O is okay, he came out screaming" and then she prayed with me again to thank God for saving our baby.
Long story aside, O is here today because of Carla. Her expertise in her field, as well as her quickness to action, allowed her to give us the best gift in the entire world, our son's life!
She visited us in our room the very next day as well and has stayed in touch to check on O as he grows. Carla is a true DAISY Nurse.