To demonstrate the very heart of Shands' Nursing I'd like to share with you the story of a special patient and her premature infant.

Early last week our patient arrived on the Labor & Delivery unit in crisis with a 28 week pregnancy and hemorrhaging significantly from a placenta previa. Even though the fetus was very premature (a full term pregnancy is 40 weeks), the decision was made to perform a stat cesarean delivery to save the life of both mother and baby. The baby was delivered and immediately admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for special support.

During the emergent case, Labor & Delivery nurse Anna Walker, ASN, RN, CLC communicated with Dad and provided updates on his new family. During these conversations Anna became aware of the patient's desire to breast feed her new baby immediately after birth. Unfortunately, the mom was now intubated and transferred to an intensive care unit after the surgery where the nursing staff have little to no experience on pumping colostrum immediately postpartum. This, however, did not deter Shands' nursing! Anna conveyed the need and the patient's desire to the NICU nurses, Lindsey Vlaardingerbroek, ASN, RN, and Ashlee Noorthoek, BSN, RN who followed the patient to the ICU and pumped the mom after obtaining consent from both the patient and her husband. Lindsey then instructed the patient's ICU nurse, Nikita Hope, BSN, RN, who was more than willing to assist this family with the special care required for a premature infant!

Thanks to the dedication of these 4 nurses the patient started pumping early and continued to pump around the clock while in the ICU, providing her very fragile newborn infant with breast milk - the perfect food source for providing immunity, anti-infective properties, and for his immature digestive system.

Great Teamwork!