I am the mom of a Universal Pediatrics client, and we have a full-time in-home nurse. My daughter spent 6 weeks in the NICU after she was born. After we got home from the hospital, we met with a Clinical Manager and were accepted by Universal Pediatrics. In March I got the call from that Clinical Manager that she had a nurse that would be a good fit for us. She told us the nurse had over 30 years of experience which included in-home, PICU, NICU, respiratory, g-tube and the list goes on! This nurse accepted the position and was planned to start soon. We were ecstatic! Things, however, did not go as planned.

My daughter got Coronavirus Original and 11 days later got para influenza. She was handling it all very well until one day. It was 10:30PM when we went to bed, she had been coughing more than usual. At 12:00AM her pulse ox started alarming, she was destating, and her breathing was very hard. She was struggling! I called the emergency room and my daughter, and I went to the hospital. They put some oxygen on her and asked us if we wanted to stay here and see or go to the University of Iowa. I said it was time to go to the University as this was the 3rd time in the ER this month. She got her first ambulance ride. The day this nurse was to start, my daughter’s little body had enough. She got sent to the PICU where she had to be emergently intubated and would be for the next 5 days. The nurse who helped during intubation's name was this same nurse as well. Someone had asked me if our in-home nurse would still be there when we got out. I had no idea, I called our Clinical Manager panicking!  She reassured me, everything will be fine on our end! Our CM and I talked pretty frequently about my daughter’s status and her stay at the hospital ended up being 14 days. When she was getting close to discharge the CM asked if I would want to start the services the next day when we got home. I said yup!  The first day I met this nurse was an eventful one.  My daughter had an appointment with her PCP, so we went to the clinic for an appointment.  All four of us.  This nurse, the Clinical Manager, my daughter, and myself.  When we got home from the appointment, this nurse watched me do all the cares, give medications, watched how I positioned her, and anything else that my daughter typically needs on a normal day. The next week this nurse would start giving medications and I would watch.  (To be honest, I was very nervous opening our home up to someone we never met, our child, and our life.) I watched this nurse with my daughter and remember thinking to myself, there is NOT one thing about how she does things that upsets me, because she did it the exact way, I do.  

This nurse is kind, hardworking, knowledgeable, calm, trustworthy, loveable, funny, understanding, and so much more. This nurse started off working 3 12-hour shifts.  We now do 4 10-hour shifts. My husband is a self-employed farmer and can't take all the time off to go to appointments with us unless they are appointments he really needs to be at. This nurse goes with us to ALL of our appointments.  I want her there as well so we can both talk about it later. Sometimes, that means this nurse comes before her normal scheduled time or works later, and she is always willing to do that! In the beginning months of being home my daughter’s Iowa City appointments were 1-2 times a week. This nurse goes to outpatient PT appointments so she can learn the range of motion exercises and stretches that are beneficial for my daughter. I try to schedule AEA to come on the days this nurse works so she's included on what they have to say also. In my mind, if our nurse is going to be caring for my daughter, she needs to be just as included and not just being told what we talked about. Our nurse communicates well with her supervisor.  She updates her right away when things change with the schedule or there are changes in orders from doctors and medications.

One day, my daughter started sounding stuffier in her lungs. This nurse called me at work, and I asked if my daughter needed to be taken in, we both agreed it would be best. We took my daughter in to be checked and were able to get peace of mind in knowing that she actually had the rhinovirus.  My daughter never had to be taken to the ER for this illness (yay) and was able to maintain it at home!  

This nurse recently worked on a Saturday for us so we could go "kid free" to an afternoon event. That was the first time since my daughter was born that we have been able to do that. At first it was just how my daughter’s day was, how her feeds went, bowels, and a little small talk. We now talk about the weekends, her family, our family, how my daughter did overnight and so much more. If I say she's been crankier, we both agree as to what it might be xyz because "she just gets her" now. This nurse's job is my daughter, but she is more like family as my older boys ask if the nurse is coming today. They enjoy showing her new things or telling her exciting things. She is a HUGE part of our family now and we couldn't imagine doing this without her. We know God placed our daughter with the best nurse we could've gotten. This nurse snuggles, laughs, talks, and cares for our daughter so well that it brings peace to me as well. I get very nervous quickly, and this nurse being so calm just helps me in ways she has no idea. It's even the little things like cleaning all the syringes before she leaves so, we don't have to at bedtime. I also have a lot of faith in this nurse for training other nurses that may come our way. I've never had a bad day with this nurse by her side.