I gave birth to my son 6 weeks early and he had to stay in the NICU. During our hospitalization, I was touched by so many of the compassionate nurses, not only in postpartum and labor in delivery but also in the NICU.
Out of all of these people who worked so hard to care for both of us, there is one nurse I will never forget, Lisa Slot. Lisa not only impacted my son's life but mine even after I left the hospital.
One afternoon, I walked over to hold my son and Lisa was merely keeping an ear out for my son while another nurse took lunch. She took the time to come over introduce herself and speak with me. While I was sitting there holding my son she simply asked what my goals were for feeding. Seems like a simple enough question, but for someone with multiple medical problems who was unable to breastfeed my first child, I had settled on what I didn't want to do- formula feed. When I spouted off the goal of getting him to eat so much formula or whatever I was told by the medical team she stopped me. She then asked me the same simple question, "What is YOUR goal for feeding?" Then it hit me, and I knew she wanted to know what I wanted to do which was to breastfeed my child. I told her I would love to breastfeed my child. There was no hesitation when she said well then this is what we need to do. Mind you, this is just while she is helping watch my son for 30 minutes. She quickly got to work talking to me about all the different ways we can make this possible. I kept thinking to myself with all my medical problems this will never work. Lisa didn't give up. She was going to help me do what I wanted most. She took the clothes off my son and helped him wake up, and without hesitation, she exposed my chest and put my son right on my chest. She went over the process and how this was going to be possible if this is what I wanted.
From this point on, I followed her every word. I did skin to skin and I was able to successfully breastfeed my son for almost 8 weeks, which was something I was never able to do with my first son. With the skin to skin contact, she had my son and I doing regularly I was able to produce more milk. Lisa was there to support me even when I felt like this wasn't going to work. Lisa inspired me to continue to try and feel as though if this is what I wanted for my son and me, we could be successful.
After a few days of following her instructions, things were getting better and better. I was sad to learn when Lisa was off work the next day I came in. However, later that morning, I hear a knock on my door and who is it but Lisa coming to check on my son and me. She came to give me words of encouragement and tell me what a great job I am doing. Lisa is an Extraordinary Nurse who went above and beyond. She wasn't there to meet her own goals but to make a personal connection with me and my growing family. Lisa's words stay with me to this day and my son is now almost 5 months.