My husband and I welcomed our first child, a baby girl, with help, guidance, and encouragement from Nurse Mary Williams.

To say Nurse Mary went above and beyond during our time in Labor and Delivery would be an understatement. I lost my incredible mother to a ten-year battle with lymphoma in 2019 and while I had immense support from my husband and father, I was missing that female, motherly support system as I prepared to be a mom myself. Mary provided me with reassurance and comfort during the scary, but extremely exciting time of childbirth. I couldn’t help but think that my own mother played her part in this momentous occasion by ensuring Nurse Mary was there as my L&D Nurse as she was truly just so wonderful and compassionate.

After riding early labor out at home for quite some time before heading to Prentice, I was greeted by Nurse Mary. She picked me up from Triage and immediately noticed how much pain I was in and called right away for an epidural. I was admitted at shift change, early in the morning, and Nurse Mary acted swiftly to make sure the anesthesiologist could take care of me before the day-time anesthesiologist took over.

Throughout my fairly quick labor and delivery, Mary took the time to really get to know my family and was just so much more than a nurse. From the second I entered Labor and Delivery, Mary said she “had a feeling” my labor would progress rapidly and that she would be able to handle my entire labor and delivery during the course of her shift. And she was spot-on. We welcomed our daughter at 1 pm on the dot with Mary by our side.

As the end of her shift approached, Mary made the choice to stay on, past her shift, to wrap up my stay in L&D and wheel me up to recovery. She made sure she was the only L&D nurse I had and maintained that familiar face and bout of comfort for me.

Going above and beyond, Mary visited our new family of three in recovery the next day to make sure we were adjusting OK and stayed to chat with us for a bit. It meant the world to us.