Janice Ledferd-Jack
April 2023
Janice
Ledferd-Jack
,
BSN, RN
NICU
St. Joseph's Children's Hospital
Tampa
,
FL
United States

 

 

 

Thank you! Thank you for taking care of my daughter. Thank you for holding, caring, and singing to her when I am away. Thank you for being so patient with us.
The moment I met her, I wanted her to be our primary nurse. It's just that unexplainable confidence that she has and projects the same confidence on other people. My favorite is when she tells me, no, she ORDERS me, "calm down, now! Everything is fine. Do you see me worried?" It's hard to imitate her tone in writing but when she says it, I listen. I completely submit to her orders and immediately feel my anxiety subside. I needed that one person, who can establish order and calmness when my mind is in a state of panic and chaos. She is that person. 

She sings Bob Marley as a lullaby to my baby to put her to sleep and to calm her down. She sings to my baby! Again, she is a nurse, and she cuddles my baby and SINGS to her! I am fairly confident that it is not in her job description, and she does not get paid to sing lullabies to the babies. She works night shifts, so most of the time no one is there to witness it, well, except the babies, and they can't speak, so nobody knows. But I want everyone to know how wonderful and how caring she is. She doesn't just do it with my baby, because she her primary. I hear her talk to other babies when the parents are not there. It's very funny how she talks to them, as if they are adults and can reply back. It's so entertaining to watch. I hear how she tells them how stinking cute they are or how big of a diaper they got. She could have just changed their diapers and fed them in silence, but she doesn't, she cares. I notice how gentle and attentive she is to every baby, not just mine. She was the reason I slept at home in the beginning of our NICU journey and not in the hospital. Because I have seen how she sprinted to the room when the alarms went off. Because I saw how fast and how confidently she handled a situation.  Because I noticed how she always has her eyes on the monitor to watch for other babies and leaves without finishing her sentence if it was an emergency. Because I see how she has an answer to all my questions and oh boy do I ask a lot of questions. And because I saw how she handled my baby when her heart rate dropped, I was panicking, crying, and asking to bring the doctor in. She just said, "No need, I got it" and proceeded to save my baby just like that, SHE'S GOT IT. 

Thank you! Thank you for taking care of my daughter. Thank you for holding, caring, and singing to her when I am away. Thank you for being so patient with us. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us and teach us how to take care of our baby. And thank you for that time you put your hand on my shoulder when I was sobbing and telling me my baby will be all right. You may not even know how much I needed that human touch at the moment and for someone to assure me it will be all right. You could have just walked away, I am not your patient after all, my daughter is, but you didn't - Thank you!