Rachael Martin
June 2016
Rachael
Martin
,
BSN, CPN
Pediatric Acute Care
University of Maryland Medical Center
Baltimore
,
MD
United States
Recently my husband and I were in your hospital with our ten-week old baby boy. He was admitted, because he has been struggling to gain weight from the beginning. Rachael Martin, was fantastic and is a huge reason he is doing so much better now.
Over the course of the last ten weeks, we have had numerous hospital visits, seen countless doctors, nurses, lactation consultants etc. Nobody had been able to identify why our son wasn't gaining weight, and they began speculating some pretty scary diagnoses (thankfully, none were correct).
When we arrived at UMMC, Rachael was our nurse. After watching him breastfeed and bottle feed, she mentioned that his latch did not look right. She described to us what she was seeing and speculated that she thinks he has a tongue tie. In all of our doctor/hospital visits, we had not heard this before. She brought her observations to the medical team, who thankfully, listened to her. It turns out, she was right. After two months of struggling, she figured out what was causing our son to not gain weight!
This is only one of the reasons why we loved Rachael. The three days she was with us, she went above and beyond the call of duty. Not only did she advocate for our son, but she learned what our needs and wants as parents were, and advocated for those as well. She took care of our son, and she took care of us. She came in and helped me with pumping and breast feeding, which she didn't need to do. Many times she came in and kept me company, which was very welcome during our 5-day stay. She chatted with me, and helped get my mind off of the stress of the past 2 months.
I spent my very first Mother's Day in the hospital, not ideal. But Rachel made a beautiful Mother's day gift using my son's hand and footprints, which I will treasure forever. She was compassionate, kind, warm and friendly and she made a very stressful time, much easier to handle.
I tell you all of this, because we have met many nurses in the last few months, and none compare to Rachael. She did more than she had to for us, and she deserves to be recognized. I think nursing has to be one of the hardest jobs out there, and one that is sometimes under appreciated. I want Rachael to know that she is greatly appreciated, and that she has made a huge and positive difference in our lives.
We are forever grateful.
Over the course of the last ten weeks, we have had numerous hospital visits, seen countless doctors, nurses, lactation consultants etc. Nobody had been able to identify why our son wasn't gaining weight, and they began speculating some pretty scary diagnoses (thankfully, none were correct).
When we arrived at UMMC, Rachael was our nurse. After watching him breastfeed and bottle feed, she mentioned that his latch did not look right. She described to us what she was seeing and speculated that she thinks he has a tongue tie. In all of our doctor/hospital visits, we had not heard this before. She brought her observations to the medical team, who thankfully, listened to her. It turns out, she was right. After two months of struggling, she figured out what was causing our son to not gain weight!
This is only one of the reasons why we loved Rachael. The three days she was with us, she went above and beyond the call of duty. Not only did she advocate for our son, but she learned what our needs and wants as parents were, and advocated for those as well. She took care of our son, and she took care of us. She came in and helped me with pumping and breast feeding, which she didn't need to do. Many times she came in and kept me company, which was very welcome during our 5-day stay. She chatted with me, and helped get my mind off of the stress of the past 2 months.
I spent my very first Mother's Day in the hospital, not ideal. But Rachel made a beautiful Mother's day gift using my son's hand and footprints, which I will treasure forever. She was compassionate, kind, warm and friendly and she made a very stressful time, much easier to handle.
I tell you all of this, because we have met many nurses in the last few months, and none compare to Rachael. She did more than she had to for us, and she deserves to be recognized. I think nursing has to be one of the hardest jobs out there, and one that is sometimes under appreciated. I want Rachael to know that she is greatly appreciated, and that she has made a huge and positive difference in our lives.
We are forever grateful.