I am nominating Kaylee for the DAISY Award due to her kindness, professionalism and continuity of care to me as a patient. Last week I went into labor with my first child. Throughout my pregnancy I had a desire to deliver my child naturally with minimal medical intervention. I desired labor and delivery, though I knew it would be the toughest thing I would ever do, to be a time of bonding where I could rely on my husband and mother for mental and physical support throughout the process.
Before I went into labor, I often day dreamed about that glorious moment where I would finally push my unborn child out and have that first glance at my son and do skin-to-skin time with him. In my daydream, this moment included tears of joy and relief. Needless to say, my labor and delivery were far from what I expected and did not go as I desired. Despite the many changes there was one constant support I didn't expect and that was from my day nurse, Kaylee.
Kaylee began her shift at 6 AM. At this point, I had been in the hospital laboring overnight with moderate contractions. From the onset of Kaylee's shift I immediately felt encouraged and comforted by her support to assist me in following my birth plan as much as possible. She never complained about my desire to have minimal fetal monitoring and constantly worked with me to monitor my baby's heart rate as I moved around through contractions. She even verbally encouraged me by stating how well I was doing breathing through my contractions and the way I was using my support people. Unfortunately, my labor did not go as planned and I needed more medical intervention than I desired. After 15 hours of labor, I was informed by my doctor that I should consider an epidural to assist in my cervix dilating and to assist the baby in moving downward into position. Throughout this time Kaylee remained consistent by encouraging my progress and answering my questions about the procedure.
After roughly 22 hours of labor I was informed that my body still was not making the progress it needed to dilate and move baby downward to be born naturally and the baby would need to be delivered by C-section. Upon hearing this news, I was immediately disappointed, scared and anxious about the procedure. After the doctor left the room Kaylee sat next to my bed and gently stated, "Let's talk about this and let's answer any questions you have." It was 5:30 PM and despite her shift nearly being over she spent the next 20 minutes listening to my concerns, validating my tears and reassuring me that everything would be all right. One of my major concerns was who would be the next nurse in the upcoming shift change and who would be with me during the C-section. As a side note, my own profession is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and little did Kaylee know that this conversation was extremely therapeutic to me and was what I needed to accept the upcoming procedure and process the changes that were occurring in my birth plan. Her kindness did not end here.
Minutes after our conversation, Kaylee left the room and I assumed she was preparing for the shift change. She arrived back to my room 20 minutes later; roughly 10 minutes after her shift should have ended. I jokingly stated, "Sorry I must have given you a lot to do before you have to leave." She replied, "Actually I've decided to stay in order to be with you for your C-section. It just didn't feel right to leave." I instantly burst into tears of relief. What I hadn't shared with Kaylee was that I had still been nervous about who would be the night nurse. I was concerned that the next nurse may not be as sympathetic, kind or as encouraging to my situation. Though I was still nervous about the upcoming surgery I had a sense of peace that I would have a familiar face through the whole ordeal.
Words can't express how comforted I felt having Kaylee present with me through the procedure. She was present as I was prepped for surgery, wheeled to the surgery room, during the few moments my husband couldn't be in the room with me prior to surgery, during surgery, in the recovery room and even present with me as they took me to my new room in the mother baby unit. On her own accord, she stayed with me from start to finish of the C-section. I'm not completely sure exactly how many extra hours she sacrificed that night to be with me, it was probably at least 3 hours past her clock out time, but she will never know the comfort I felt looking over and physically seeing her standing there during the C-section. The C-section was an unknown to me but through it all Kaylee was my one consistent thing representing the hospital that gave me peace and comfort.
Over a week later, I am still grateful for the kindness and generosity Kaylee showed as she sacrificed her personal time for me that night. Tears often come to my eyes as I think of how blessed I was to have her as my nurse that day. She didn't have to stay past her shift, but she did! Kaweah Delta is blessed to have such a hardworking, genuine and compassionate nurse working for them as Kaylee.