My wife and I came in for a scheduled induction or what should have been a very routine delivery of our sixth child. The past four have been induced without incident and this one should have been no different. After being attached to the various monitors we began preparing for epidural, antibiotics and Pitocin. During this process Courtney noticed a significant dip in the baby's heart rate that seemed to correspond with a natural contraction. Given that the Pitocin was not yet started she decided to wait and watch. She carefully monitored my wife for the next couple hours. If a drop occurred she worked to mitigate by rolling her on her side, shifting positions, etc. During this process she had called to inform the doctor, she also was in contact with the charge nurse. After this had happened 4-5 times she contacted the doctor again and decided to hold off on the Pitocin until the doctor could evaluate the situation. Having been through this routine several times and never encountering this set of circumstances my wife and I both had questions about the situation and concerns about how serious the situation was. Courtney took the time to remain calm and explain to us what was happening to us. We could see the deceleration to 70-80 bpm, but did not know how serious this could be. After rolling several times, oxygen, etc. had all been tried, the doctor arrived. Courtney walked him through what had been done and he considered breaking my wife's water, but later decided it was not a good idea and we prepared for a C-Section. Courtney took the time to ease our nerves, explain the process and answer our questions about recovery. I'm sure this situation is more common for you all in this environment, but for us it was a first and it was scary! When the baby was delivered it was discovered that she had the cord wrapped around her neck four times. The outcome of this delivery could have been very different if the Pitocin was started, or my wife's water was broken, or if the seriousness of the situation was not properly conveyed to the doctor.

Courtney was a pro, leveraging her experience and knowledge in a way that lead to a successful delivery. We are so grateful for her help during this ordeal and in my book she is a HERO along with the doctor and support staff. If her efforts are not worthy of a DAISY award, then I don't know who would be. Thank you so much! We are forever grateful.