My wife S was admitted to Labor and Delivery on the night of July 24th. We were expecting the birth of our second son and were anxiously awaiting his arrival. My wife's contractions started at home earlier that day and she was having them regularly. We never could have imagined what would happen over the next day.
As S's labor stretched into Friday morning, our nurse, Bri, knew exactly how to help both of us. She wasn't afraid to speak up to a resident who had come in and not known the whole story and had come in saying that a C-section was needed. She put our mind at ease when she went out into the hallway and spoke to that resident about how she upset us. Bri bent over backwards for us during her shift. She was comforting to both S and me and was always positive, even when it was hard to be. She was willing to work with us on different positions and took the time to sit down and get to know us. She opened up about her family when we were discussing kids and wanted to know more about us. As the hours stretched on, she never wavered in her demeanor as she was always friendly and genuinely wanted what was best for us. As she shift came to a close Friday morning, she made sure that we would have another nurse like her to help take care of us, and told up that she would be back that night and would check on us to see our new arrival.
At this point, we were beyond disappointed as S had now been in the hospital over 12 hours without any major progress in her labor. On top of that, we had lost Bri, and building up a comfort level with a new nurse to compare to Bri would be difficult. Our new nurse, Courtney, put us at ease immediately, and we knew that we were again in amazing hands. For the next 12 hours, Courtney was there for us through everything, the highs and the lows. In S's case, it seemed like good news was immediately followed with bad news. She again took the time to get to know us and our story. We will never forget her calm demeanor and how she was able to brainstorm new ideas that no one else had thought of. She was determined as us to see S through this delivery. As the hours again stretched by, she was the one that helped get us through this time, as we were both starting to lose hope that S would be able to have a vaginal delivery. Finally as the evening approached, we felt like the worst was behind us and that we would finally get to meet our little boy. At this point, Courtney's shift was over and she should have gone home. Instead, she wanted to stay with us to see us through this journey. Bri had arrived back and she was also in the room with us as we prepared for delivery and was joking with S that she didn't have to wait for her to come back to have the delivery. The personal connection we had made with both of them us unbelievable.
As S started to push, the baby's heartbeat would start to drop a little too low for everyone's comfort level. Dr. C was the doctor on call that day and was with us as we realized that S would need some assistance to finally get the baby delivered. She suggested using the vacuum to help assist with delivery, which we agreed to. Finally, after 24 hours in the hospital, in addition to the time S was in labor at home, we welcomed our little boy, D, into the world on Saturday, July 25th at 7:52. It was definitely without a doubt one of the greatest moments in our lives, and one we will cherish with us forever. We finally felt like the whole ordeal was done and that recovery would begin. However, after 5 minutes, we received the scare of our lives.
S started to complain of not feeling good and the room started to spin. Within seconds, as S faded in and out of consciousness, the delivery room became instantly full of doctors. As I watched in disbelief, S was in the process of losing 15 units of blood. Words cannot express the horror I felt realizing that S's life was in the hands of the trauma department and that we may lose her. As I scanned the room, even with the chaos going on with S, the entire staff had a game plan and worked as a team, which seemed impossible to do anything coherently at that point. I remember looking up and seeing a doctor's name tag with the "stroke" label and finally realizing the severity of the moment and holding our son thinking that he may never get to know his mother. After what seemed like an eternity, I made the decision to take the baby with me into the room next door, as I knew at that point that S would want me to focus on him. It was one of the worst moments in my life saying good-bye to my wife knowing that I may never see her again.
As we were going in the room next to the delivery waiting for family to arrive, you could hear the commotion going on next door and hear doctors running in and out of the room. During this time, the on call chaplain came into the room. Unfortunately I don't' remember his name, but our hope is that this can be figured out so that he receives some recognition. As seconds went by that felt like hours, he began praying for S and her recovery. When he was done, I received a call from S's parents asking where to park. Obviously I was of no use to them, so the chaplain volunteered to go down and meet them in the parking garage. The decision was made to move the baby and me to a room in the postpartum wing so that family would be able to have more room upon their arrival.
When family started to arrive, they wanted to know how S was doing, and we didn't have any answers for them. The chaplain heard this and said he would personally go down and would update us as soon as he heard anything. After about an hour, which seemed like an eternity, we heard from him that S was getting stabilized and that the blood loss was for the most part under control. Dr. C and Dr. T came in shortly after to give us more of an update and to let us know that S was going down to radiology to see if they could stop the bleeding permanently. Although they wanted me to stay with family, they respected my wishes of wanting to see S at that moment. As we walked down to radiology, Dr. T was very comforting and explained what their plan was. Seeing S in that bed as she was preparing to enter radiology was incredibly rough, as I hated to see her sedated and hooked up to all of the machines that she was.
The doctor in radiology, who introduced herself to me and I have since forgotten her name, stopped S's bleeding. She played a huge part in getting S through this ordeal. Dr. T and Dr. C again came up to give us an update on S and to tell us the good news. S was then transferred to ICU where she was still sedated while they monitored her vitals. S's parents were able to see S for the first time, and even though it was tough to see her in that stage, they were relieved to hear that she was going to be ok. The nurses in ICU were incredible to S as she began to recover.
Meanwhile, Bri had known of S's preference to breastfeed and had put every effort to getting donor milk. Once she realized that wasn't going to happen, she took the initiative to help pump S, as we knew that was what S would have wanted. As I walked back to the room, I was greeted by both Bri and Courtney with hugs and with tears in their eyes apologized for what happened to S. Courtney was still at the hospital at 11:00, when her shift ended hours before, because she wanted to make sure S was ok. Bri helped take care of S while she was in ICU. It was difficult not having our son be in the same room as S so the staff worked together to get us moved up to ICU so that baby could be with S. This is something that we appreciated so much, as it helped make S's recovery easier. The next day I was stopped by nurses that I didn't even know but had heard about our ordeal and was given a hug by countless people. Their reassuring words, again by people I had never met, will never be forgotten.
As S recovered in ICU during the next few days, we were amazed by the level of care that she was receiving from doctors and nurses. Days after, I was still receiving pictures through text messages from doctors and nurses who had taken pictures with permission of S with our son in ICU so that we would have that memory. Courtney was back at work on the day S was moved down to postpartum and again helped take care of her and make things as good as they could possibly be for her. During her last night's stay, we found out that we would not be able to go home yet. Having a 3 year old at home who we have been away from for close to a week was though on the two of us, and especially S. The charge nurse we talked to realized how upset S was and said that he could come and stay with us that night. Again, that kind act will never be forgotten. Our hospital stay ended on the following Wednesday when S was discharged. Looking at S then, no one would have ever imagined what happened to her.
Dr. S, we cannot thank you and your staff enough for everything UNMC did for us! We were so blessed to be at a hospital that was staffed with people who were calm under pressure and knew what to do at the exact moment. Your staff worked as a team to save S's life. We are without a doubt lucky to have been at UNMC, as we know that we would not have been so lucky if we were elsewhere. Without a doubt, your staff at UNMC saved my wife's life.
Your staff was so incredibly compassionate with us throughout our stay. They cried with us, hugged us, and supported us in ways that we could never have imagined. Your hospital lived up to the label of "World Class Healthcare" in every imaginable way. Bri and Courtney, we will never forgot how above and beyond you both went for us. You supported us and helped us through the darkest moments our family had faced. The level of care that you provided us was unquestionably amazing. To the chaplain who helped us that night, thank you for going above and beyond and taking care of our family and for updating us. Dr. C, we are blessed that you just so happened to be on call doctor that weekend. You were instrumental in saving S's life. You stayed so calm throughout our whole ordeal and took the time to come and check on S multiple times throughout our stay. Things were in our favor when you were the delivery doctor. Thank you for your amazing skills. To the person in radiology that night who stopped S's bleeding, thank you! As our doula pointed out later, we were lucky to be in a hospital where you are on staff, as we were so fortunate to have you there for us when we needed you.
We hope that this letter will be passed on to the numerous people that helped us that night. Every person there that night played a vital role in saving S's life and keeping her here with our family. Your love, care, and support was extraordinary, and we will be forever grateful for all you did to take care of S. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!