As a first-time mom, I was really scared of giving birth, namely the pain associated with it. I showed up at L&D early in the morning with contractions and Jana was my nurse. She was amazing from the get-go, but what stood out the most to me was her personal encouragement after I had been in labor for hours and was really struggling not just physically but mentally.

The first thing she did was she looked right in my face as I was crying at the prospect of being administered Pitocin by my (equally amazing) midwife and gave me a pep talk. She told me, “You were made for this” and just made me feel a lot safer and like I was really seen. She just said it right to me and didn’t make a big show of it. The other most influential thing she did was she gave me another little pep talk when I decided to have an epidural. I was really against having an epidural from the start, but labor wasn’t going well and the Pitocin had made my contractions extremely painful.

I was distraught and felt like I had given up and was giving in to the epidural. Again, Jana came close to my face and looked me in the eyes, and said I had to promise I wouldn’t think of myself as a failure if I chose to get an epidural. I was in so much pain, so exhausted, and under the influence of some drugs, so I was only able to nod and say okay, but I remembered what she said the rest of my labor and how much it meant to me.

It’s truly the small things nurses do that add up to make a rough experience bearable. Labor lasted too long for Jana to meet my son. I was so upset when her shift ended and she had to leave. However, she visited us the next day and also when we were being discharged after our 2-night stay in the hospital. I couldn’t hug her enough! All of my nurses were so amazing, but Jana really stood out to me and I felt like I had a friend supporting me. She made all the difference to me.