Tori was my last nurse change of the day, and when she came to my care, I was slowly progressing towards my delivery. She was extremely positive and gentle during cervical exams and always asked if I needed anything extra without feeling like a burden. When it came time to start figuring out what the next steps were, such as when to get the epidural, I asked her for her opinion since I was a first-time mom and had no idea how to plan it or space it out. She gave me her honest opinion, and we devised a game plan together. We decided to break my water first and then get an epidural after. Throughout the water-breaking process, she talked me through breathing and rubbed my arm. When I got the epidural, she also helped me coordinate my breathing through contractions and when to stay still and helped me to hold the position. The epidural was only on the right side of my body in the beginning, and she helped prop me up on the other side to get it to flow over with the use of pillows and a peanut ball. When she inserted the catheter, she talked me through every single step, asked if I was okay, and reassured me that everything was going well. It worked very well, and I was soon dilated to a 6. Throughout the whole dilation process, she kept me calm with reassurance and flipped positions in the bed to get the baby to move down. At one point, she mentioned that she was offered to leave early for the night but had decided to stay since we were so close. She was dedicated to assisting me and wanted to meet my baby.

I cannot say enough how much this helped encourage me, and I greatly appreciate her. She had commented through the night that she didn’t want me to push for hours like most first-timers do, so we just continued switching sides with the peanut ball. It did the trick, and eventually, I was fully dilated, and it was time to start pushing. I can’t even express how amazing she was with the beginning pushes. Before we started, she did a cervical exam on me and made sure that I was making progress with a practice push. Once I did, she coached me through the pushes and encouraged me. She went to great lengths to make it a positive and minimal-damage experience for me. She had grabbed a warm compress to prevent tearing and had me work through 4-8 second pushes instead of the 3-10 second pushes, due to me having more success in the beginning pushes vs the laid-out ones. I did a couple of sets with her, and within the very last set of pushes, my Doctor was there to get my baby delivered on the second to last push. I think the process was around 30 minutes from start to finish, and even the Doctor was surprised at how quickly he came. I genuinely attribute that to how she didn’t have me start too soon and how she coached me, provided encouragement, and went above and beyond in her care. Once it was all said and done, she made sure to help me with the initial latch of the baby and get some food in me. Long story short, I am so grateful to have had Tori there to assist me in my labor, and I think I didn’t push for so long because of her assistance and guidance. The patient care she exhibited went above and beyond and was excellent.