Kristin Bedard
March 2021
Kristin
Bedard
,
BSN, RN, CPN
Inpatient Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston
,
MA
United States
Kristin made sure to come in to check our son's vital signs, only when I awoke to feed him, thus allowing us all to get some more sleep.
I will start by saying that I could write an amazing story about any one of the nurses that we had during our time at Boston Children's. The care that we received was phenomenal. That said, Kristin was particularly special. It was Kristin's first shift back after being out on leave, and we were so fortunate to have her. Being in the hospital with your baby is something no parent ever wants to have to do.
Our son was admitted through the emergency room after throwing up blood. As you can imagine this was extraordinarily stressful and scary. Kristin could tell that my husband and I were both completely exhausted and emotionally drained. She went out of her way to sit and talk with us and to offer specific things that she could do to help. When the evening came and we were hesitant to leave our son, she helped us put together a plan to take shifts going to the hotel next door to get some sleep. After having not slept the night before, she recognized the importance of this. As a breastfeeding mother, I was particularly nervous about being away from my son.
Although the hotel was only about 50 yards from the hospital, I have never spent a night away from my son and wasn't sure if I could do it. Kristin made sure to give me two phone numbers that I could call at any time to speak with her directly to check in on my husband and my son. She also offered to make arrangements with hospital security to walk me back-and-forth to the hotel because I would be doing this alone around 11 pm, and then again around 4 am. When I did call her around 3:30 am, she immediately answered, and she snuck into our room to give me a status update without disturbing the baby. I returned to the hospital to relieve my husband around 4 am.
Kristin made sure to come in to check our son's vital signs, only when I awoke to feed him, thus allowing us all to get some more sleep. Around 6 am I woke to her gently touching my shoulder. She quietly explained that I should hold off on feeding my son because she had spoken to scheduling, and she thought that they may be able to squeeze our son into the operating room first thing in the morning as opposed to waiting until late afternoon as was originally planned. Although I was very nervous about our baby being put under anesthesia and intubated, I was very relieved to know that they might be able to get him scheduled first thing in the morning. Kristin talked to me about that and made me feel much calmer about the procedure, even offering to have the GI doctor come to our room to discuss if needed. Her calming presence had a huge impact.
Thankfully, our son has now been discharged from the hospital and is being treated on an outpatient basis. Although it was a difficult experience, we feel very thankful to Kristin and all of the staff at the hospital for caring for our son and for us during our time at Children's. Please pass on our thanks and gratitude.
Our son was admitted through the emergency room after throwing up blood. As you can imagine this was extraordinarily stressful and scary. Kristin could tell that my husband and I were both completely exhausted and emotionally drained. She went out of her way to sit and talk with us and to offer specific things that she could do to help. When the evening came and we were hesitant to leave our son, she helped us put together a plan to take shifts going to the hotel next door to get some sleep. After having not slept the night before, she recognized the importance of this. As a breastfeeding mother, I was particularly nervous about being away from my son.
Although the hotel was only about 50 yards from the hospital, I have never spent a night away from my son and wasn't sure if I could do it. Kristin made sure to give me two phone numbers that I could call at any time to speak with her directly to check in on my husband and my son. She also offered to make arrangements with hospital security to walk me back-and-forth to the hotel because I would be doing this alone around 11 pm, and then again around 4 am. When I did call her around 3:30 am, she immediately answered, and she snuck into our room to give me a status update without disturbing the baby. I returned to the hospital to relieve my husband around 4 am.
Kristin made sure to come in to check our son's vital signs, only when I awoke to feed him, thus allowing us all to get some more sleep. Around 6 am I woke to her gently touching my shoulder. She quietly explained that I should hold off on feeding my son because she had spoken to scheduling, and she thought that they may be able to squeeze our son into the operating room first thing in the morning as opposed to waiting until late afternoon as was originally planned. Although I was very nervous about our baby being put under anesthesia and intubated, I was very relieved to know that they might be able to get him scheduled first thing in the morning. Kristin talked to me about that and made me feel much calmer about the procedure, even offering to have the GI doctor come to our room to discuss if needed. Her calming presence had a huge impact.
Thankfully, our son has now been discharged from the hospital and is being treated on an outpatient basis. Although it was a difficult experience, we feel very thankful to Kristin and all of the staff at the hospital for caring for our son and for us during our time at Children's. Please pass on our thanks and gratitude.