Sara Couillard, RN
November 2016
Sara
Couillard
,
RN
Women & Infants
Pen Bay Medical Center
Rockport
,
ME
United States

 

 

 

My husband and I came to the maternity ward for lack of fetal movement. I was 34.5 weeks pregnant. We found out my daughter had passed away, and that was why there was no fetal movement. Sara was our nurse when we came in that night. She looked scared, but was so compassionate to us. The next morning, the doctor delivered our baby's lifeless body.Sara was so beautiful, and when I looked over, Sara was in our delivery room. She stayed past her shift to support us. That night, she came back. Our baby was kept in the morgue, and when we requested to see her and say our final goodbyes before calling the funeral home the next morning, Sara went down to get her and had her swaddled up, with a beautiful hat, and wheeled her in a bassinet so no one would stare at her as she was brought to us.
That night, I had taken a sleep aid and was starting to drift off to sleep when a panic attack came out of nowhere. I was hysterically crying, hyperventilating, and couldn't compose my thoughts.Sara came in after my husband ran out to get a nurse. She sat on my bed with me as I cried, and just talked me through it. She told me to take nice deep breaths, and rubbed my back, speaking softly and gently to not only me, but my husband who felt useless seeing me like that.Sara sat with me for about 15 minutes talking to me, rubbing my back and my hair. At one point, even crying with me. She was hands down the only reason we made it through that time. She checked in on us frequently, went above and beyond to do anything we needed, and above all else she cared for us.
We can never thank her enough, and will always have amazing things to say about our care during that difficult time.