I had just given birth by emergency C-section. I had significant blood loss and almost died in the operating room. My baby was placed in the NICU for care. All of my vitals had dropped to dangerously low levels and I was all alone because my family had not arrived yet. Howard was my nurse. I was bandaged up in my pelvic area, and I had a medical device attached to me called a Jada. It was applying pressure to my cervix as well as suctioning up blood as I was still bleeding some from giving birth. I had lost about 2 liters of blood. Howard had never had to care for someone with a Jada or who was postpartum. He cared for me while learning a lot/being reminded of postpartum care. He was nothing but professional when he had to check my incisions. He made sure my pain was under control. I had to have another procedure to cauterize the vessels in my uterus that were actively bleeding after I had several layers of my abdomen cut open. He would find females to help me clean up after bleeding everywhere. He made sure I was comfortable in bed and helped me get my meals set up so I could eat. Howard was very comforting, as I could not see my newborn because we both were in intensive care. Howard would call my nurse from the maternity ward when he didn’t understand something instead of just doing whatever. I was confident in his care because those were some of the worst moments of my life. He let me see my family (I had been crying since the surgery) and kept them updated on my care. My body temperature had dropped down to 95, and he made sure he put me on a warming blanket along with several blankets to get me back to normal. Howard went above and beyond trying to get me back to the maternity ward so that I could see my baby. Administration was slowing my transfer down, but he kept asking and personally escorted me back to the ward and to the NICU. He made a terrible situation more tolerable.

Note: This is Howard's 2nd DAISY Award!