This summer, I delivered my son at our hospital. Despite nine months of working hard to keep my blood sugars under control, my baby began to have low blood sugars shortly after birth. By the time the PM shift took over, we had been working on breastfeeding and he had formula several times, but his blood sugar remained just below normal. Nadine was my nurse that evening. She was calm and kind. Caring for a newborn on blood sugar protocols is not easy, they require a lot of blood sugar checks. She was always right on time to check his blood sugars, never late. This timeliness in care, while it may seem like a small thing, made me feel confident that she was being attentive to our situation and had knowledge of the care she was to provide.
Even though I am a nurse, a diabetic, and the coordinator of sweet success, she explained things to me in a way a mom could understand. When my son began to spit up all the formula he had, she knew that he needed more help. She calmly, but immediately advocated for him by calling our physician and requested that she assess him and evaluate him for admission to the NICU. Shortly after that, he was admitted to the NICU where he got his blood sugar up and finally was able to rest comfortably. She got him the help that he needed. As I dealt with blaming myself for this and having a hard time being separated from our newborn baby, she hugged me and encouraged me and never once blamed me.
I am so thankful for her quick, insightful, knowledgeable, and compassionate care of my son and me. Thank you Nadine for all you do for your patients and for the difference you made to my little guy and me.