Last year I had an honor and an opportunity to take care of the mother preparing to give birth to her very first-born child. After the newborn has been delivered, within the fourth-hour post-delivery, I took the newborn to the mother and assisted the mother with her first breastfeeding experience. Within the room, there were three people including the mother, the father and the grandmother. I assisted them with positioning the newborn on the mother's breast. With her pain and discomfort from delivery, the mother's movement and activities were still quite limited, especially when changing position causing some difficulties and prolonged processes of positioning the newborn to the mother's breast. Throughout the process, I kept informing the family of what to expect with the newborn and how they should be preparing themselves and their home to welcome their very first newborn. Calming the patient and family members and reassuring them to help to decrease their anxiety has always been such a rewarding feeling for me. Getting to see the family holding their newborn for the first time, filled with happiness is something I am truly happy to be a part of such joyful moments. Before I left the room, I gave the family members our department's phone number so that they can reach our team right away when they have questions or concerns. Afterward, every time I entered the room, the grandmother would praise me so much that I could not hold back my smile.
Two months ago, the very same grandmother came to visit the mother's friend who had just delivered a newborn. I was assisting the mother with the newborn positioning when the grandmother recognized and recalled me. She smiled at me and immediately gave me a hug. Later the grandmother kept telling the story of how thankful she was to have an angel like me caring for her family. She was so fond of me and our department and introduced me to the newborn from last year who was now one year old and was being held by the father. The grandmother was so delighted that she asked me to take a photo with her. Looking back to those events, it made me think what could I have done to make the grandmother and the family felt so thankful to me. Every time I look back, I smile and think that a simple act of kindness and care for the entire family of the patient could be so rewarding. Everything that I did for them was my job and responsibilities that I do with every patient. It could be that every time I gave them information and answered their questions or how I was attentive to their feelings, it left them with a smile and an image of kindness filling the puzzle of the little child's life. This event gave me so much joy, confidence and the will to care for the patients even more. The simple act of kindness and support from our heart and soul always result in the wonderful and extraordinary feeling in return. Thank you nursing profession for giving me the privilege of rewarding humanity.