My husband and I headed to Covenant Women's and Children's Hospital here in Lubbock to have our first baby. I was scheduled to be induced at 6 that morning. I was absolutely terrified as she was my first baby, and the process of labor can be very intimidating. The night shift nurse helped us get settled, and then, around shift change, Nurse Marva came into our room and introduced herself. As soon as Marva walked into our room, I knew my baby and I were in good hands. She immediately eased my anxiety and walked me through what the process of induction would look like. I had a million questions, and she was able to answer every single one.

Around 730am, Marva started me on Pitocin to induce labor. She made sure all of my and my baby’s monitors were on and that everything looked good. Marva continuously checked in with us and kept us updated. She told us we were just waiting on my OB to come in and break my water. My OB came into our room around 830 that morning and broke my water and placed an IUPC (intrauterine pressure catheter). I hadn’t requested my epidural yet, so I was still able to feel every little thing that was happening. Due to my baby’s head being very low, my OB was having trouble getting the IUPC past her head which was very uncomfortable. My contractions had become very intense at this point. Marva could see that I was in a great deal of pain and asked if I was ready for the epidural. As soon as I said I was ready, Marva immediately contacted the anesthesiologist. She had told me that he had a couple of other patients ahead on the list. I was in even more pain at this point and about 5 minutes later, the anesthesiologist walked into the room. I’m not sure how she was able to get him to my room so fast, but I was so grateful that she was able to help me get the epidural as quickly as possible! She helped me breathe through contractions while I was having the epidural placed. At this point, I was about 3cm dilated. I had felt immediate relief from the epidural, but after about an hour or so, the pain from contractions came back and it was 100x stronger. Marva called the anesthesiologist back to make sure the epidural was still in the correct place. After confirming it was, I was still in pain, so Marva decided to check my dilation again. I had gone from 3cm to 9cm dilated in about 2 hours. Marva knew my pain was coming from progressing too fast, so she asked the anesthesiologist to administer a pain medication bolus through my epidural. I had immediate relief and was so thankful for Marva once again. At this point, it was time to use the peanut ball and reposition.

When Marva turned me on my side, she noticed my baby was having some slight late decels. She immediately turned me back over and continued watching the monitor. She didn’t leave my room during this time, even after my baby’s monitor was back to normal. About an hour later, I was ready to push. Marva taught me how to push correctly and how to breathe through it. She made sure I felt confident in pushing before she called the team into the room. The pain medication had worn off at this point, so she asked if I could have another bolus right before pushing. When it was time to deliver, Marva was right by my side talking me through it. She guided me through every breath and push. After about 10 pushes our beautiful baby girl was here. She had a nuchal cord x2 so we knew this was the cause of her late decels during the repositioning. I am forever thankful Marva noticed this and immediately had me return to the position that the baby was comfortable with. She helped us bring our baby into the world safely and made sure I was comfortable while doing it. I am so blessed to have such an amazing birth experience, and I know it was because I had such an amazing nurse. Marva is the perfect example of a great nurse, and Covenant is so lucky to have such a compassionate nurse working at their hospital.