Chelsea Alves was more than a nurse, she was a guardian Angel to me. After having multiple complications during my delivery, Chelsea would not leave my side after undergoing complicated emergency surgery after my C- section. I woke up from surgery to find Chelsea's smiling face and warm embrace asking me if I wanted to do skin to skin for bonding purposes with my new baby girl because she knew that was one thing I really really wanted. She wanted to make me feel that I still had control over my delivery and that what I wanted mattered. However, I couldn't hold my daughter at all to my chest because I had too many IVs, and was in so much pain, that I couldn't even move my body by myself, so my guardian Angel, Chelsea Alves, held my baby daughter on my chest for a whole hour, and we both cried with happiness in our eyes. She made me feel that my nurse, whom I never knew before that day, cared so much about me. She comforted me and made sure that even if my birth plan didn't go according to anyone's plans that she was going to make sure that I got the special treatment like any other mother. I also was not on the usual maternity floor for mothers, so I did not have photographers come to my room. The day I was discharged she put in a special phone call to have the maternity photographers come to my room so that they could take pictures for me too. She would stay by my side from surgery, through the last day I was there and then again when I was rushed back to the hospital two weeks later. Even when I wasn't her patient that day she would come and check on me, make sure all of my bandages were properly changed, that I wasn't in pain, she even made my daughter a hat with a bow because she said a special girl like your daughter deserves a special beautiful hat.
Chelsea is truly a compassionate human being. She would give me words of encouragement, and she would constantly tell me how brave and strong I am. She honestly is the best nurse that I ever had and she is an amazing asset to Yale. She is the difference between the love of a job and just work. She truly gives 1000 percent to her job and she doesn't work, she monitors, she assesses, she consults, she guides, and she cares. My mother, father, brothers, and husband, still talk about how great Chelsea was in a moment of emergency. You don't come across people to often who are gifted at their job. I happened to have the blessing of having her in my life when I needed someone like her the most. She even showed my mother how to swaddle my baby girl. She has not only made me a stronger person, but she has allowed me to see what a difference people make in your life for the positive when given the chance, in situations that really matter. She is in the business of people, caring, comforting, and she is truly talented, because every time I think of my experience, she is always the second thought, because she made such a huge positive impact on my life and I am truly thankful to have had someone like that.