A Special Thank You

Yesterday, we left the the relative security of Baptist Hospital, after our four night stay, and brought our son home. Before I go any further, I need to say a word or two about the care we received there. After we learned Jude was pregnant, I heard from many, many friends that Baptist Hospital is a wonderful place to have a baby. After our experience there, from the delivery itself to the care they provided John Patrick immediately after he was born, to the care we received during the rest of our stay, everyone with whom we dealt was knowledgeable, professional, kind and caring. We couldn't have asked for more.

Immediately after he was born, Ginny Derryberry, a nurse in the nursery, escorted me, with
John Patrick in my arms, from the operating room to the nursery. There, for almost an hour, I watched her weigh him, check his vital signs, bathe him (his first bath - boy, was he pissed!), shampoo his hair and really provide him with the first dose of tender loving care he received on this earth. At the same time, she smiled and laughed with me, reassured me and made me feel at home in the nursery, handling my newborn son.

Another nurse in the nursery, Debbie Webster, was extremely helpful throughout our hospital stay. She helped us learn how to change a newborn's diapers, especially after John Patrick was circumcised Monday morning. She was a valuable source of information for us, patiently answering our questions about swaddling, diapering, bathing, caring for the umbilical cord stem, etc. Debbie had such a gentle touch with John Patrick and, most importantly, she continually reassured Jude and me that we would be great parents. We probably drove her crazy with elementary questions about the minutiae of caring for a newborn. Nonetheless, she patiently answered every question and made us feel like we were asking the most intelligent questions she had ever heard (which, obviously, wasn't the case).

In a previous post, I mentioned Paula Appleby, the lactation specialist who spent a great deal of time with Jude and me while we were in the hospital. Paula's instruction and encouragement were invaluable, as Jude struggled to learn the art (and it really is an art, not a science, as near as I can tell) of breastfeeding. Her patience with us and her reassuring, calm demeanor, combined with her obvious mastery of the subject matter (what I call "Breastfeeding 101") helped provide Jude with an environment conducive to her bonding with our son through learning the intricacies of breastfeeding.

There were others, many others, who cared for us during out hospital stay and made us feel welcome, almost like guests. These women (nurses, techs, etc.) were wonderful to us and I cannot thank them enough. Every once in a while you are exposed to someone, in their professional capacity, who gives you the impression he or she was meant to do whatever it is he or she does for a living. To me, nursing is a calling for those who do it best, rather than a job. That's the way it was for my mother, I think, and that's the way it is for the nurses, techs and other hospital personnel who cared for us at Baptist Hospital.