My wife and I came in for an induction of our first child. This pregnancy has been special since the day we had our first positive beta test result. We had gone through so much in the last two years with having to do four rounds of IVF retrievals and then four embryo transfers. Penny Rehwald was there from the beginning of her induction keeping her calm and collected. My wife really wanted to have a completely natural birth with laboring at home but she was unable to do this, needing to have an induction due to gestational diabetes. Penny did everything she could to make S's birthing experience as close to a natural birth as possible.

S did have to have an antibiotic prior to delivery of our baby girl and between the cultures and her allergies to medicine it was determined that there was only one that would work. S started having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic with itching. Penny did everything to help her get through it including finding us some lotion and adding additional Benadryl to her IV. She had gone to the bathroom and when she came back, S's mother and I noticed and then mentioned to Penny that her lips looked swollen. She instantly stopped the antibiotic, started calling the OB, and started working to come up with a different antibiotic. It was determined that an antibiotic that she had a year ago on a prior surgery would work. It was a cousin to one that was listed as an allergy for her but she didn't have a reaction to it.

She started to experience back and hip pain that was really bothering her. The OB floor had recently gotten some new monitoring devices that most of the nursing staff hadn't received training on yet. But she found someone to assist her in attempting. it. It didn't quite work but she remained cool and collected and continued to monitor our baby with a doppler while they worked to get the monitor to work without straps across her back. Unfortunately, we ended up having to go to internal monitoring and she fully explained and showed us the devices that would be placed prior to Dr. arriving to place them.

Currently, there is a national shortage of pain meds that are suitable for labor and delivery. When S started to get uncomfortable she searched and searched the hospital. Penny had been informed that there was only one dose of pain medicine that was suitable for our situation. She gave my wife half a dose and then a little later the other half. Penny didn't like the answer that it was the only vial in the entire hospital. She began searching throughout the entire facility. Along with the aid of the pharmacy department, four additional vials of pain medicine were located that were suitable for our situation. The pharmacy was able to round them up and bring them to the OB floor for us.

With Penny seeing how much pain my wife was in she mentioned another tool, the epidural again. S was not wanting one from the beginning as she wanted to be able to be up and moving during the labor process. Penny offered to get Dr. E up to just speak to her regarding it. She agreed to chat with the anesthesiologist. I fully believe if it wasn't for the prompt for that conversation her labor and pain would have continued for hours and possibly into the late evening. Five hours after the initial conversation and about 3.5 hours after the placement of it by Dr. E, S had progressed from 3.5/4 cm to 9.5/10 cm to everyone's surprise, and was ready to begin pushing. This was by far the biggest jump in progress she had.

During those first 8 hours of her 12-hour labor and just an hour of pushing Penny was by our side she provided so much comfort, guidance, and didn't take a "no, that's all of it" for an answer. She went by far above and beyond the call to provide comfort and support to both of us.