George and Martha..One Nurse's recounting of a fetal demise...

thankyou so much for posting this story, i'm a medical student and applied today to nursing school...i'm telling the medical school this week and have been really stuggeling with people telling me i'm doing the wrong thing, why would i give this up to be a nurse? and it's been really getting to me, reading your story really reminded me why i have made this decision...
elle

In the hospital I work for , mothers under 20 weeks are kept in the ER. I have been there for several "miscarriages". I get so angry and the admistrative staff who decided just because these women are delivering too early for the baby to survive, they don't deserve the privacy and respect of a L&D room. The ER is the worst place to be told you are lossing the baby you and your husband have tried for years to concieve. Ihave held these women(sometimes girls) hands and while every one else is trying to pretend that they are not losing a BABY, just "having a miscarriage", we nurses HAVE to step up and comfort the mother. She needs to know that whether she is 6 weeks or 39 weeks if she loses the baby she will grieve, she will cry and then she will love again. My hospital has no support for these women. I have petitioned, begged, pleeded that they be sent to L&D so that the will have some privacy, some time. The answere is always no. So until they understand and change the policy, I have to comfort these women in a cold exam room that is right next to the schizo screaming about demons. Most of them are ready to run out of there as quick as possible to grieve alone, but some of them have no where to go and no one to grieve with. Sorry this got so long but I had to vent. Just yesterday I had to beg to get a 23 weeker to L&D who was in active labor AND it infuriated me.

Yes, publish! I was very touched by your story.

This moved me to tears. I hope I have the honor of participating in patient's lives in such a meaningful and significant way. That you for sharing this.

Melissa

Wow this actually touched me more than you know just because I went through losing a baby not that long ago and I had two wonderful nurses who cried with me, talked with me and sent me flowers after I was sent home. By reading your story I know now definately that becoming a nurse isn't just what I want to do, it's what I need to do for myself and for my daughter who I lost in April. I want to help deliver healthy babies and most importantly I want to sit with my patients and hold their hands and comfort them as best I can when things don't go so right. I was actually in denial when I found out like your patient at a routine check up that my little angel no longer had a heart beat. I was a diabetic with high blood pressure as well so I was considered high risk. I know that once the pain did hit me, after holding my daughter and having pictures taken of her I needed someone to comfort me and I will always, always be grateful to them. Eventually I'm moving back to Maryland to settle down, they need nurse's bad on the eastern shore of Maryland and I can only hope that they will both still be there helping other's as they've helped me. Your story was so beautiful, it was one of the most incredible stories I've ever read and I'd like to thank you for sharing this with us.


~Amber~

Amber, so sorry for your loss. Thank you so much for sharing how the nurses made such a difference. Wishing you great success in your future career as a nurse.

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!! Yes, I would buy too! Keep up the inspiring work and the supurb writing!