When our daughter was born eight weeks premature we knew we would have a long NICU stay. We were as prepared for that as you can be. What we were not prepared for is just five days after our daughter was born, we got a phone call that our son had suffered a very serious seizure while staying with his grandparents and was being airlifted to the University. We were already there with our daughter and began the horrible wait for our son to arrive.
As a mother with a newborn in the NICU and a four-year-old in the PICU, you are at a loss as to where you need to be. I tried running back and forth between the floors for about an hour (mind you I had just had an emergency C-section and not moving all that fast yet). Shelley was our daughter's nurse that day. She finally sat me down, as I was in tears trying to decide which child I needed to be with right at that moment. Shelley looked at me, and in the most loving way simply stated, "I am here to care for your daughter. Your son needs you right now, so go be with him and let me take care of her."
She reminded me that my daughter would never know I wasn't there the whole day and my son did know if I was with him. She assured me that she would update me regularly about my daughter and to focus on my son. I think I must have cried as I hugged her and headed back to the PICU to be with him. Every hour Shelley called my son's PICU nurse to update us on how my daughter was doing. She would ask how my son was doing every time I brought milk in for her to put in the fridge. She took the time to snap a few pictures of my daughter and make my son a Get Well sign for his room. She also took the time to personally deliver that sign to us after her shift was over.
I could not have felt more comfortable in this terrible situation and being away from our daughter in the NICU. The next day Shelley was our daughter's nurse again. I was absolutely elated that we had her again. Thankfully our son's PICU stay was only two days, but I am not sure I would have made it through those two days as well as I did without the love and support from Shelley.
She made an excruciating situation bearable. She calmed a very scared mother, and to this day, I wish I could tell her what an amazing nurse she is, and how she truly found her calling in this career.