My husband and I were very excited to welcome our first child into the world. We were scheduled to be induced and were expecting to have our baby boy in our arms in just a day or so. Over the first 35 hours of our stay at the hospital, we were given 5 rounds of medication and my labor was not progressing. I was still a mere 1.5cm dilated. We wanted desperately to meet our son and it seemed like it wouldn't be anytime soon. That's when we met Brenda! When she came in, her cheery attitude immediately brightened our spirits. She did everything she could to make us comfortable. She gave me the little comforts (like taking a shower and putting an extra cushion on my bed) to make me feel "human" again. She was our cheerleader. After her shift was over she came in telling us as much as she'd love to see us again, she wished and hoped we wouldn't be there when she returned. We were sad to see her go. Sure enough, we were still there when she returned. We had now been in the hospital for 59 hours and we had tried 7 rounds of medication and had walked the halls what felt like 100 times, but we were still stuck at 2cm.
Brenda sat with us Wednesday morning and after comforting me in my extremely emotional state, she took out the whiteboard the nurses write their names on. She wrote her name and extension, while she talked with us she continued to decorate the board with hearts and stars while she chatted with us. Finally, she wrote "Baby Day". She told us it was a lucky day and she was going to do everything she could to help us on our journey. She gave us hope that Wednesday really would be "Baby Day".
Again, during this shift, Brenda did everything she could to make me more comfortable and to try to help my labor progress. When I finally had my water broken and started having contractions, she was there to tell me I was doing great. When it was time to get an epidural she held one hand while my husband held the other, both of them cheering me on through the pain. She was calm and caring even when she sensed our son was not doing well. When it was decided that we needed an emergency C-section she kept us calm. Again, she turned a scary situation into a positive one reminding us that we'd finally get to meet our little boy. Her positivity and strength transferred into the delivery room. Taking my mind off of the "scariness" by asking me to guess how much our little one would weigh. Even after our son was born she still did everything, above and beyond to make us more comfortable while she helped me try to breastfeed and got us ready for the postpartum floor. I was "over the moon" and exhausted. We finally had our baby boy in our arms. It really was "Baby Day". While recovering we were overjoyed to see Brenda again when she came to visit us. I never knew how truly special a stranger could become to me and our family. While all of the nurses were wonderful, Brenda has a special place in our hearts and we will never forget her and her role in our son's birth.