When my son was 2 months old, he became sick with a GI virus. He is now a healthy 10 year old. My son was on the Peds unit here at Lutheran for 8 days before going to Riley for 16 days. I can remember practically everything from those 24 days, and the one person I will never forget is my son’s nurse Jayda. We got Jayda as our nurse the morning after a particularly difficult night. She was the angel that I needed. She helped me do “skin to skin” with my son, then she took him for a while and “ordered” me to go take a shower and cry for as long as I needed. That was actually exactly what I needed. Jayda was so kind, caring, and genuine. It was then that I decided that Jayda was the kind of nurse that I would strive to be. I had only just passed my nursing boards one month before my son was born (here at Lutheran).

I began working at Lutheran in July 2013 in the Neuroscience unit and eventually transferred to the Childbirth Center in 2015. I always remember how Jayda made me feel, and I try to give all my patients the same care and understanding I received from Jayda. I left Lutheran for one year to try travel nursing. When I returned, I was elated to learn that Jayda was now one of our lactation consultants. When I saw her, I said, “You probably don’t remember me, but I will never forget you.” After I told her about my son’s stay at Lutheran 10 years ago, she did remember. I am truly blessed to not only get to meet my favorite nurse but also to be able to work alongside her.