I would like to take a moment to extend my sincerest gratitude for the service, the compassion, and the love that was shown to our family over the month of August while our twin boys were in the care of ACH and UAMS. How many of your nurses do you know who are willing to put their entire life on hold to see a patient's situation through? And how many of them do you hear about doing this while being off the clock? Well, one of your nurses did just that. She went above and beyond her call of duty to make our heartache more at ease and we feel compelled to let you know about it.
At 36 weeks gestation, we were admitted to UAMS by our Fetal-Maternal Medicine doctor. One of our twins, E, had been diagnosed earlier in the pregnancy with Spina Bifida and after 4 months of preparation, we were more than ready at the point of delivery to care for our special needs son. After delivery, E was taken to ACH's NICU, as planned, for further evaluation, while our youngest twin, W, remained in the UAMS NICU. The very next day, in a teleconference between UAMS and ACH, we received the news that our precious E was diagnosed with multiple anomalies, meaning he had a number of other serious life-threatening issues that were not picked up on the ultrasound during pregnancy. Our family had to make a choice that no new parents should have to make. We chose to let our beautiful baby boy go back into our Lord's arms.
Two days later, we planned to take our precious E off of all life support in the evening after our family and friends joined us in his baby dedication. The NICU gave him his very own room that day for our family to meet him, hold him, to celebrate his life, and to mourn together. It was that day that a very special nurse, Lindsey Deaton, came into our lives. We are certain her assignment that day was much undesired, yet she handled it with such grace.
You see, during her shift, Lindsey spent the entire day with us and a large part of our family and preparing us for what was to come that evening. As 7 PM arrived, our family and friends filled the room, but it was shift change and time for Lindsey to go home. We were saddened to see her leave, but to our surprise, she offered to stay with us. After approval from the NICU management that evening, Lindsey was granted approval until midnight. Having worked a 12 hour shift, her compassion kept her going.
Lindsey assisted in the life support removal at 8:30 PM after our friends and family left. Doctors told us to expect minutes with E after he was taken off. Against all odds, he kept breathing on his own. Minutes turned into hours. And when midnight arrived, Lindsey had to clock out. But having chart work remaining, she completed her work off the clock and left ACH at 1:30 AM, only to return for her next shift at 6:30 AM.
As she arrived back to work a few hours later, to her surprise, we were still there with our precious baby as he held on for life. After very encouraging words from doctors, we finally opted to have E transported to UAMS to be with his twin brother during his last days of life as a family instead of split up between an Interstate. It was obvious that he had "unfinished business" and we didn't want to keep them apart any longer. And how happy we were when we learned that Lindsey was assigned to assist in the transport of E back to UAMS! There, she joined us in the reunion of those special little boys as W's entire NICU room of doctors nurses and social workers shared hugs and tears. Lindsey remained with us for a short time until she had to return to her shift at ACH.
When her shift ended later that afternoon, she called to check on E. Still hanging on, we invited her to join us if she wasn't too exhausted to do so. Having only had a few hours of sleep the night before we would have understood if she had turned her invitation down. But she didn't.
That evening we were finally able to enjoy our E, celebrate his life, and mourn peacefully, all in the presence of his twin brother, whom he obviously needed. Us, along with Lindsey and W's NICU nurse were able to pass E around that evening so he was held and never put down, enabling my husband and me to gain mini naps. Having had a C-section a few days earlier, and a nervous husband who was traveling between hospitals the entire week, we were purely exhausted, especially from being up the entire night before as we watched every breath E took. We were terrified of holding our baby as he died but scared of missing his last breath. But once the twins were reunited, these two special nurses did not leave our side the entire time, which we are so grateful for. And as E took his last breath around 2:30 AM, these two nurses gently woke us up so that we could hold our baby boy as it happened.
We feel like Lindsey fought this fight with us. We found a great amount of comfort in her and are truly blessed to have had her placed in our lives. A lot has to be said when you have so much admiration for somebody because they were the biggest contributor to the hearts being allowed to be at peace with the death of a child. Lindsey did so much more than what we expected of her we are forever grateful for her service, friendship, and compassion.