I was working one evening and received a phone call from a former patient who was following up on her stillborn son's hand and footprint molds. She explained that the nurse who did them was called at home and drove in (from an hour away) to perform the daunting task, and promised to send them in the mail along with a hat and blanket handmade by the nurse's mother and sister. This phone call had me thinking about how far above and beyond Megan goes to ensure that these special patients receive the proper respect they deserve at this hard time in their lives.
Megan recently wrote, 'As nurses, we are all affected when we lose a patient, but none more than when it's a baby. We grieve for the loss of life and dreams. We all know that, we've all witnessed it. But not everyone has lived it. After my sweet baby niece was born with her heart defect and lost her battle at just one short week, I experienced what our patients feel. I quickly realized that while we do a good job with fetal demise patients, we could do so much better. Our focus needs to be on helping our families say "hello" to their precious babies before saying "goodbye". In this spring, I attended a certification course with Babies Remembered to become a certified bereavement doula. I worked with Sweet Grace Ministries to bring the newest technology in infant demise, a Cuddle Cot, to help extend the time parents have with their baby. I've also learned new techniques to achieve beautiful hand and footprint molds, plan education for staff, and attended a simulation lab to help doctors practice delivering bad news.'
Megan is an extraordinary nurse!