Today and Every Day: I’m Thankful for Nurses

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I’ve always felt a draw to the medical world. The terminology, the technological advancements, all of it. It’s always fascinated me to the extent that I always figured I’d go to medical school one day. Life took me in other directions but I never lost my love for it. I never knew how deeply I would be thrown into that world until 2008, when our twins were born at 31 weeks. It wasn’t until 2012 that I truly learned which professional would stand out the most. The Nurse.

And though there are many life saving people who are part of piecing together the puzzle that is our story, including Respiratory Therapists, doctors, surgeons, technicians, and so, so many others we are indebted to and thankful for, I couldn’t help but reflect back on the role our nurses played.

And in 2012, those talents saved a tiny little one pound, 1o inch long micro preemie.  His name is River and he is my youngest son. He was born in a whirlwind and it was 2 nurses who flew me down the hall, so fast to the operating room that I’d swear there were wings under their scrubs.

I’d been in the hospital for 24 hours with many complications and they’d just watched his heart rate began to drop to dangerous levels. Time was not on our side.

In the operating room, standing next to the Neonatologist, was a nurse. A Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse. She would be the person who touches this peculiar eggshell of a baby the most. Not me. Her.

She will tell my early bird of a son happy birthday and treat him as the joy he is, especially when speaking to me.  She’ll refer to him as “our baby”. She’ll be able to put an IV in veins as thin as a piece of straw. An IV that is his very lifeblood until he learns to digest.

She will demand his pod is quiet so that he isn’t overstimulated. She will worry about him and most importantly, she’ll love him. She knows before he is diagnosed that he’s sick, she picks up on the personality quirks of a premature baby. She will keep him in prayer, she’ll tape his diaper so it fits. She will sweat profusely while she’s trying to get him to take a breath and she won’t move to wipe it from her brow until he does. She’ll say, “Come on River!” out loud and you’ll see that her face is full of such determination and hope that it’s impossible for you not to believe in it. Once he exhales, she does too. She’ll spend weeks, months helping him learn the art of breastfeeding or bottle feeding. She’ll try different techniques, she’ll remind you that slow and steady wins the race when your patience runs out. She’ll become his biggest advocate and his loudest voice, she will fill a position that you can’t. She’ll take the phone call and tell you how your son is, she won’t say I just told you how he was an hour ago (out loud).

She’ll feel sad and joyous simultaneously when he finally goes home. She’ll save his life. From the day he was born.

NUrsesweek
Memories. River in the hallway of his former NICU with Nurse Whitney.

In the 6 1/2 months total that River spent in a hospital, we saw nurses go through many hard things. Loss of life before it even really began, assisting in the delivery of extremely hard medical news to families, helping a mom cope when she just couldn’t get her breast milk to come. They hold babies when a parent cannot be there, calm babies who are born addicted and suffering withdrawal. They miss out on time with their kids, while taking care of ours.

But overshadowing that, so much joy.

River's Nurses, BAMC NICU
River’s Nurses, BAMC NICU

I wrote this about a specialty nurse that I personally value the most, but my utmost respect and admiration goes out to every single nurse out there. Men and Women. You possess a very important set of skills, you live a full life of serving others. You define humility, grace and hard work.

You are appreciated.

On good and bad days.

You are so very deserving of Nurse Appreciation Week! THANK YOU.

My healthy, happy boy today!
My healthy, happy boy today!

 

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Kara
Kara lives in Odem on a five acre mini farm and has been married to Robert for almost six years. Together, they have three children. Reese and Riley, b/g twins {7}, and River {4}. She is part owner in the family business, a ghost writer and active in animal rescue. She was introduced to parenthood in a whirlwind because both of her pregnancies ended with premature births. River was a micro preemie. She feels that those experiences caused her to take more of a laid back approach to life and parenting and taught her that the small things are usually the big things! Kara looks forward to writing for Corpus Christi Moms Blog and sharing her experiences and findings with you all!