All the nurses that we had during our very LONG labor were absolutely wonderful!! But there was one nurse who really stood out! Erica wasn’t even technically my nurse, but somehow, she kept appearing. Our first night in the hospital I had gotten poked many times and had a painful IV in my elbow. When we got to the labor room, we had a very sweet, obviously newer nurse. She was having a hard time finding the baby’s heartbeat, so another nurse came in to help. Erica came in with a big smile and found the baby easily, which calmed my nerves. While she was there, she noticed my terrible IV and offered to restart it. She started a new one right in the middle of my arm so I could bend it without crying. It only took her a minute! We joked that we should have asked for her five needles ago! She even put a smile on the bandage.

The next night, we were still in labor, and our baby’s heart rate kept dropping. We had another lovely younger nurse. Things got a little crazy, and we almost had to have an emergency c-section, and Erica came running in to help. She remembered me and again helped me to feel calm. I thought it was really nice how she helped the new nurses but did it in a way didn’t make them look bad or inadequate. I ended up getting to have a natural delivery and had to push for a long, long time. When our nurse went to lunch, Erica took care of us and did what my husband calls “voodoo magic,” and by the time my nurse came back, the baby was ready to come…. Erica stayed for the birth, and it was a good thing she did! Our sweet little baby girl came out and needed help breathing, and Erica ran her into the other room, and then we heard a cry!

I really think that Erica deserves an award! She is a great nurse who kept me calm and made me feel comfortable when things got scary. It just seemed like no matter what was going on, if she was there, she could fix it and keep us all happy and safe.