In high school my children John and Katie worked at Chick-fil-a at the mall. It was a typical high school job. Sometimes I think they still say my pleasure when someone say thank you. Another member of that crew was a guy named Matt Green. They all moved up and on, Matt went on to graduate from Georgia Tech. Ultimately all the kids grew up, got married and started having children. Matt married a lovely young lady Emily, and they had a daughter Maddie Jo. Then another Evie. Except Evie was born with heart complications. She was had multiple surgeries and they spent a lot of time in Atlanta at CHOA. I reached out to Emily and asked for some examples of the care they received.
Pediatric nurses are angels sent from God. Not only are they there for the babies, they're there for the parents too. They are the ones who comfort the parents when family isn't around. They answer questions when the doctors leave the room. They make sure to remind you to take care of yourself when you've been with your baby for days/ weeks/ months without going home. They remind parents the importance of leaving the room, to eat, drink water, go for a walk, take a nap, shower, pray.... and they hold your baby as if it were their own while you're gone. They make such an impact on your life that you remember their names even though years have gone by.
Aubrey is one of the fabulous CICU nurses at CHOA at Egleston. She was my daughter's nurse several times during our hospital stay. Aubrey spoke up for us when doctors rounded on us every morning. She made sure the doctors and surgeons were aware of our concerns and questions were answered. Aubrey requested to be my daughter's nurse the morning after my daughter needed CPR and was almost put on ECMO. Made a huge impact on our lives.
Tiffany was another nurse we were blessed to have with us while in the CICU unit. She was always a calming person to be around. She made sure Evie was comfortable got everything she needed. There was an especially hard time during our stay when we were trying to wean Evie from her pain medications after one of Evie's surgeries. A baby going through pain med withdrawals is something you don't expect or even hear about. During this time Tiffany went out of her way on her break to find the same baby swing we had at home. It helped Evie relax, sleep better and come off her meds at a quicker rate. We kept that swing with us until we were discharged 2 months later.
Brittany from the pediatric ICU at Piedmont in Columbus is one of the nicest nurses I've met. She lit up the room with her bubbly personality silly stories. You could tell she was great with babies because Evie just loved it when Brittany came in to see her.
Clair is an incredible and experienced nurse from the Columbus Piedmont ICU. She knew Evie needed to be transferred to the cardiac unit Atlanta from day 1 and pushed for that to happen when we needed her to. We kept in touch for the next 4 months until Evie was finally discharged from CHOA and we were home.
These are first hand examples the importance pediatric nurses have on families. We are riding to make sure the nurses graduating from CSU have all the clinical experience to perform their jobs. But the one thing that is more important is what is in their heart.
Todays song of the day..."Mommie's all right, Daddie's all right, they just seem a little weird"...Surrender by Cheap Trick..