When my wife and I found out we were pregnant we were overjoyed. My wife is not sick much but stated one of her worries was not being able to cope well with pain, nausea, and discomfort. She is a strong woman and works as an occupational therapist and loves to care for the elderly. Being a nurse myself I assured her that they have ways to make you comfortable during labor and not to worry. In the back of my head, I was also thinking of her amazing mother who we planned to be there to be able to help and coach my wife through labor and help me advocate for her. However, our plan to have her mother in the hospital with us changed with COVID-19 and we knew we would be doing the labor on our own, but to our surprise, we were not alone or without a caring advocate at all because we had Jessica.
At the start of the labor, my wife was having multiple contractions very close together as well as vomiting which she did not have at all during her pregnancy. Jessica was able to coach my wife and even convinced her to get in the jacuzzi tub which seemed to help. After feeling some relief she still had periods of great discomfort. During this stressful and painful time, a big team of providers came in, which to my wife were a bunch of new faces that never laid eyes on her before and decided to talk to us again about going home for a bit as she was not as far along in dilation as they would have liked her to be. My wife broke down while in pain, very scared, and started to cry. I am an experienced emergency department nurse of 10 years and now a nursing faculty member and I was completely stressed thinking about how we are even going to get from the jacuzzi tub to the parking garage in her condition. Jessica saw how we felt and our fear, and told us how she has been doing this a long time and could tell that my wife was in active labor, that she is not going home, and that we are having a baby today (and we did!). She got my wife back on the monitor so the many contractions she was having could be seen by the providers and got my wife some pain medication. In less than 30 minutes, she assisted us in getting her back to bed and had the team come check her again and she was at 4cm. She assisted my wife to this point going as long as possible without the epidural, helping my wife stay in her birth plan. The fact that we did not have to leave the hospital to go home and also the fact that my wife actually was progressing through active labor shows that Jessica is not only an experienced clinical expert but is a strong patient advocate. Once my wife had the epidural, things calmed down for a while. I was standing at my wife's bedside relieved and as she started to finally rest Jessica told me I needed to eat and rest as well. When I turned around I saw she had made a bed for myself with sheets, pillows, and everything. She encouraged me to get rest and care for myself. I told her I'd be fine but she insisted- she was not only caring for my wife but also for me. I did not expect this at all and with all my wife's needs, she somehow found a way to put me at ease as well.
Jessica was not only a strong patient advocate but also provided excellent patient education when others were unable to give clear-cut, evidence-based answers. Once labor started progressing further and providers were starting to make regular checks and exams on my wife, one provider noted that one exam "felt different" than it did prior in regards to the baby's head position. Unsure of what caused the change in the exam, Jessica suggested an ultrasound to ensure the baby was in a safe position and educated us on what the next steps were going to be, always keeping us informed in uncertain situations. While the ultrasound ended up being normal and the baby's positioning was as it should be, Jessica's reassurance throughout the process certainly helped ease our minds in the interim. A second instance in which Jessica provided great patient education was during the decision to augment my wife's labor. Earlier in the day, it had been suggested that because she was 37 weeks along that her labor not be augmented at all, however, once she did start dilating more, out of nowhere the suggestion for Pitocin arose and we were told this is what the providers were recommending we go forward with. My wife and I had heard about some of the negative parts of Pitocin and asked the provider on the reason for the change and why they were now recommending Pitocin. The answers we received were a little vague so we turned to Jessica for guidance. She easily and professionally gave rationales both for and against Pitocin and what each course of action meant in regards to labor. She explained things in a way where we could easily weigh benefits and drawbacks and actually make an informed choice.
These examples are just several instances in which Jessica made a significant, positive, and ever-lasting difference in the outcome of my wife's pregnancy. Given my own experience working with very sick patients, I thought I would be able to handle this and help my wife, but I never felt so helpless or lost, it's different when it's a loved one. I just did not know what to do, but Jessica did and for that, I will be forever grateful. I feel my own career as an RN puts me in a unique position to see when nurses go above and beyond and when they are doing more than what's required of them. As nurses we can get burnt out, so we switch specialties, maybe do some other form of practice- not Jessica, she will never lose her passion as an OB nurse and I hope she never does. I know if she cared for us like this that she gives all her patients the same care.
Jessica provides compassionate care and leadership to the medical team by being a strong advocate and patient educator. The advocacy she provided made a difference in our lives and in the experience of labor. If this was not done we may not have made it home or ended up having to deliver at a different hospital that is closer to our home as we don't know if we would have made it all the way back to Maine Med due to her discomfort. Stephanie talks about how everyone told her that labor is painful and long but it's worth it and you forget about it once you hold your baby. She said in her opinion they are wrong and she will never forget Jessica, this is why she is a DAISY Nurse.
Note: This is Jessica's 2nd DAISY Award!