Recently, my wife came to Carle to deliver our son. There were some unexpected complications with delivery, which then caused my wife to undergo a C-section and then for our baby to spend some time in the NICU where we had the pleasure of having Jessica as our nurse for several days.
From the start, we could tell that our son was going to be in good hands. My wife and I both loved how Jessica interacted with our son. It was clear that taking care of him was not just a job. She treated him with great care and talked to him like he was a little man, which we loved.
Jessica also pushed me to get involved as much as I could as a dad. She pushed me to change diapers, to hold him, and to feed him. She had just the right amount of "pushiness" to get me out of my comfort zone without going over the top. While she urged me to help out, she also did not criticize me for doing things not quite right. She jumped in to help me when needed.
It was also very obvious that Jessica was doing what she could to get our baby ready to come home. At one point, he was on a minimum feeding amount. If he did not reach it, a feeding tube would be needed. My wife and I were feeding him, but we came up short in getting him to eat the required amount. Rather than coming over and instantly shoving a tube down his throat, which would have been traumatic for everyone, she took him and tried to coax him to get the last few CC's needed to avoid the feeding tube - which she did. It was great to see that she did not want to insert a tube either even though this is probably something routine for her to do.
Over the few days that Jessica was our son's nurse, we really felt like we got to know Jessica. She really made us feel welcome to the NICU even though there was plenty going on on the floor at all times. We never felt like we were in the way or a bother. Jessica was very relational with us, which made us feel very comfortable.
When it was time for us to go home, Jessica went over some educational things with us to make sure we were comfortable in taking him home. She never made us feel dumb about our lack of baby knowledge. When help was needed to take our stuff and baby to the car and a tech or transportation person was not available, Jessica and the head of all of the NICU/Pediatric nurses both helped us get our stuff, the baby, and my still-in-a-wheel-chair wife to the car. They saw us through to the end.
As we drove away from Carle, my wife and I both expressed to one another that we were going to miss seeing the NICU nurses, but especially Jessica. It felt like a good friend was moving away. We felt a great deal of gratitude towards what Jessica did for us in caring for our son.