Mary was my day shift nurse throughout my whole delivery (Induction, laboring, unplanned C-section). She was the one who prepped my room, got me comfortable, and oversaw me from start to finish. Any moment I needed her, she was there. It took mere moments for her to arrive anytime I needed care. I couldn’t have asked for a more caring nurse. When it came time to receive my epidural, the anesthesiologist was having issues with his own computer program, which prolonged being able to deliver the procedure. In these moments, the pain was quite high, and I remember crying heavily due to the pain. Mary held my hand, rubbed my shoulders, and kept reassuring me that everything was okay and that this was a part of meeting my little girl. She kept advocating for me the whole time and talked to me about other things to keep my mind off while they worked through the issues within the computer program. After waiting for a while with no luck, she couldn’t bear to see me in pain any longer. She went ahead and ordered some pain medication till the anesthesiologist could get it together.

It helped tremendously as we waited. She stayed with me the whole time and gave me the comfort my husband could not at the time (He was not allowed in the room via hospital rules). Fast forward a few hours later, due to complications, we had to do a C-section. Again, as they prepped, my husband was not allowed in the operating room till all was situated. Mary held my hand the whole time from the movement from my room to the surgical room and throughout the whole prep of the C-section. I was terrified as this was my first child and my first c-section. It still brings tears to my eyes how a complete stranger could give me such love and care in the moments when my family could not be there.

Even after she was delivered, the care and comfort never stopped. She was always kind, never made me feel like a bother, shared her own personal experiences to relate with mine (which I absolutely loved), and, overall, was an outstanding nurse. I will never forget how loved she made me feel in those moments of the unknown. She and the care team even mailed me a card after the birth, congratulating me and saying how beautiful she was. Every shift change, Mary always told me goodbye and that she would see me the next day. I will remember the love and comfort that Mary gave me for the rest of my life. I am blessed to have received care from her and to be in her presence. She is exactly in the field in which she needs to be. There are people who work for a living, but you could tell she wasn’t there for a paycheck. She genuinely loves and cares about her patients, and I can’t thank her enough for being in this field and for being exactly where I needed her to be during this experience.