My husband and I were admitted to the Pediatric Ward after a not so great experience in the ER with our 4-day old baby. I was induced and my son was born a few weeks early at just under 5 pounds. Typical for small and early babies, Jack struggled to regulate a healthy temperature. After being sent home from the NICU, we came back to hospital worried about it again. While in the ER, we were told my son would need a lumbar puncture to obtain spinal fluid. With no one there to represent us during the procedure he was poked 5 times by residents on staff and finally a Major that was called in was able to obtain fluid but not enough for all the tests.
We were moved to the pediatric ward where there was another attempt with an additional 4 lumbar punctures. My husband and I stressed to the staff that we were not happy with all the attempts, especially on a 4-day old baby and from residents that had no experience. While in the third attempt, necessary in order to complete all the tests, LPN Chris stood up for us and stopped the residents from taking turns trying to obtain fluid. Chris was truly our advocate in the room and stood up for his patients. When I was told what Chris did I broke into tears because he as the first person that seemed to truly understand that my son was not a patient to practice on. The senior person in the room should have been the only one obtaining fluid on such a young baby, per our request. Not only was Chris amazing in this situation, he was attentive and kind throughout our 4-day stay in the hospital.