My husband and I arrived to OSF Labor and Delivery for a scheduled induction, as my baby was measuring large for gestational age. We got checked in, made it to the room, and around midnight the induction process started. Throughout my stay, I can honestly say that every single one of my nurses were incredible. However, one of the nurses stands out the most, unique to the situation. She will forever hold a special place in the hearts of my husband, my family, and me.

Labor had gone on for a little over 22 hours, and we were assigned a different nurse than we had started night shift with. I was lying in different positions, attempting to get the baby’s head positioned in the most ideal way for labor. Right around 12am, I had started to doze off and get some rest, as I had planned to be pushing a baby out potentially soon; I was dilated to a 7. It wasn't long after I felt a large rush of fluid and I had assumed my water broke. I hit the call button to inform the nurse that this had happened, and my nurse, Shea, came in shortly after with a resident. I was unable to wake my husband, as he had his headphones in. I had the resident wake him and let him know what was going on. Shea informed me that just because my water had broken, it didn't necessarily mean anything would be changing as far as what was currently happening, but she was going to check me to see if I had dilated any further since the last check. When she checked, I noticed her face went a little sour, and she informed me that we were going to have a change of plans; my umbilical cord had prolapsed. Being a Firefighter/EMT/RN myself, I knew exactly what this meant, and I immediately had so many feelings about it. Sad, angry, scared, to name a few. However, I cannot commend Shea for how quickly she identified the issue and acted on it. She remained calm and collected, had the resident press the help button and gather a delivery team to come to the bedside immediately. Before I knew it, the room had a full team, moving very quickly in efforts to take me to the OR. It truthfully felt like seconds before entering the surgery suite for an emergency C-section.

Shea remained on the bed with me, keeping the baby’s head off the cord. She talked me through everything that was going on and reassured me that my baby still had good movement. Once I was moved to the operating table, I was met again by the anesthesiologist who also did my epidural. The anesthesiologist did a phenomenal job with my epidural, and it was incredibly reassuring to have a familiar face in the operating room, as I was very emotional and absolutely terrified. He was certain to inform me of everything he was doing as he went.

Before I knew it, I was awake in the recovery room, anxiously waiting to meet my baby and husband. Shea was still at my bedside and informed me of what had happened and that everything went as well as it could, given the circumstances. She remained with me until I was taken to my postpartum room, where she handed off care to another nurse. We thanked her for what she did but saying thank you doesn’t begin to display our gratitude for her actions.

In summary, I would like to commend this woman for saving our child. Again, being a first responder and a nurse, I know what the outcome of an event as such can look like if action is not taken quickly. To a layperson, labor and delivery is likely seen as a black and white job, a place where things go smoothly most of the time… until they don’t. These nurses are responsible for two lives at one time, something unique just to labor and delivery nurses. There was never any hesitation or second-guessing herself as to what was happening. She did her best to keep me informed of what was happening before I was sedated and did all she could to try to console my anxious self. We are so thankful for her and her quick actions and would choose her as our nurse over and over again, given the opportunity.