Kingslee Mayo, BSN, RN

I was unexpectedly induced, three weeks early, for over 27 hours, and the contractions were so bad my body was tensed head to toe probably 17 of the 27 hours. I had gone through three shifts of nurses before I met Kingslee. She advocated loudly on my behalf while calming my nerves in a very stressful situation. I very quickly went from feeling hopeless and that I would end up in a C-section against my will to having strength and courage to keep going, all because of her words of encouragement and her commitment to going above and beyond. I was finally given the opportunity to get an epidural around hour 26, and she promptly got the Anesthesiologist even though the Anesthesiologist was already extremely busy.

Because of this, it altered everything! I went from 2cm dilated to 9.5 cm in less than 30 minutes because my body finally relaxed instead of tensing up. I told her I felt like I had to push shortly after, and no one else would listen to me, but she did. She was the only person in the room with me, other than my family, while I was pushing for the beginning half. I was so scared and in so much pain, but she gave me words of strength and encouragement the entire time. She made me focus and lock in to get my baby out. She made me feel like she cared about my health just as much as she cared about the baby, which meant so much to me! I pushed my baby out in around 25 minutes. She held my hand and took care of me as I got stitches on my second-degree tear.

When everything had calmed down and we were to be moved to the mom and baby floor, she took extra-gentle care of me first. She nearly carried me to the bathroom when I could barely sit on their gadget to move people around. When I cried because the stitches burned horribly the first time I went to the bathroom, not only did she hold my hand and soothe me, but she also took the extra step and prepared warm water for my peri bottle. This act may seem insignificant, but it was an act of kindness that did not go unnoticed. When it was finally time for us to be taken to our next room we just hugged each other and cried because of how special the night was for me. I couldn’t thank her enough for finally giving me a voice after not having one for nearly my entire stay. She has made a lasting impact on my family, and we will always remember her!