After delivery, I was in extreme pain; every time I sat up my neck would seize and my spine was sensitive to movement. We assumed it was due to strain during labor. Jess showed extreme kindness in caring for me, she made sure I felt comfortable advocating for myself and my pain level and knew when I was playing it down. She worked with the OB to make sure my meds were strong enough for the pain, safely got me to and from the bathroom when I needed it, and found me other specialists (PT and Massage Therapy) to try and ease the pain. After my prescribed 2 nights, visits from PT and MT, and no reduction in pain, she advocated for me to stay another day/night because she felt that something else was wrong that everyone was missing. That day I got a full spinal MRI. She kept me calm, personally escorted me down, helped me remove my very stuck, hadn't been removed in over ten years, nose ring, and made sure to be there two hours later to take me back up to my room. The MRI came back negative.

The next day she had to discharge me and felt terrible doing so. During the stop at the nurses station to remove my baby's security tag, my vision went double, my left eye dilated and my eyelid started drooping. She acted quickly calling for help and then calming me down as I started to freak out. She wheeled me back to my room and a flood of doctors came in. Once the room cleared, she saw that my husband and I needed time to recover and process what had just happened. She volunteered to watch my baby and made sure we would be undisturbed for at least 30 minutes. It meant so much to us that she could see what we needed. A few hours later her shift was over for the week and we had to say goodbye. There were tears and hugs all around. When she was walking out to the garage she came across my husband who was bring all of our stuff back in after the failed discharge. She gave him another big hug which he really needed and I know it meant a lot to him.

I was in the hospital for 4 more days and the other nurses would let me know she was checking up on me. While I certainly didn't want to stay any longer, I do wish we had seen her again to show her how much better I was doing because her instincts knew something big was wrong and she had pushed for more care. (On additional review, the MRI was not negative.) Throughout our time with her (3 days), she made sure I had every comfort she could provide. She advocated for me and made sure I advocated for myself. She made sure my daughter was well taken care of and gave us a break from new-parenthood when we needed it. Jess went above and beyond during a very scary, painful time and we are forever grateful for her.