First of all, I am doing my professional semester at a labor & delivery unit in Columbus, and I absolutely love it. There is just something about this area of nursing that is so great...For the most part, this area of nursing is happy. It's pretty much the only field where you come in and your patients are healthy, the babies are born healthy, everyone is happy. I know there are definitely circumstances in which things are NOT happy, and I know I will come across that. However, it is so different going into a place where your patients are happy to see you, and happy to work with you. Anyway, I am not discounting the fact that there will be experiences that are sad, negative, unhappy, etc.
I walked in today tired, as always. Every night before clinical, my goal is to go to bed early, and then in actuality, I go to bed at/around midnight. When you have to be up and at 'em for 12+ hours, 5 hours of sleep does not suffice. You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now, but each and every time, I go to sleep late and wake up counting down the hours before I can sleep again. Sad right?
So, I was tired and expecting a long day, as my hospital is incredibly slow and does not always guarantee that we will have patients. Well, luckily there was a 5am induction, and we got to continue the induction as soon as I came in. Let me just tell you, I was so excited when I realized how awesome my patients were going to be. As soon as I walked into the room, they were cracking jokes with me. Not only did I notice how happy she was, regardless of the fact that she was in such a high amount of pain (she had not yet had her epidural), but I also noticed how happy and excited they were about having their first child. It is so common for the support person to be so nervous or not feel as involved, but this husband was by her side the entire time. I have gotten so used to the husband taking the back seat (not in a bad way, but I mean...the mom is the one giving birth, so it's easy to forget that it's just as special to Dad). This dad was by her side, cracking jokes as well. Not only were they so easy to get along with, but their love for each other was so clear and inspiring. He did little things like rub her leg or kiss her hands, and at one point when he had to step out of the way, she said, "Baby why are you all the way over there?"
It turns out they had been together for 7 years, and still, their love was so strong. The entire time she was laboring, he was helping her push, holding her, showering her with words of encouragement, all while keeping an upbeat attitude about the whole thing. For whatever reason, I got really emotional (ok maybe we can blame PMS a little bit) and was so inspired by the love they had for each other. Not only was she making jokes in between pushing, but she made sure he stayed involved in the entire process. She WANTED him by her side the whole time, she didn't just feel obligated to include him, or leave him out.
Too often, I get down on myself for being single (Um hello, I haven't had a boyfriend in 3 years), but seeing couples like this remind me that the wait is worth it. This couple made me so excited to see what is in store for my future. They were so much fun, they clearly had worked hard to make their relationship work after all this time, and they were definitely a pair that I will probably remember for the rest of my life.
1 comment:
I often envy people in your line of work because of the constant reminders you receive in a simple day "at the office", so to speak. I'm glad to see that all is going well :)
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