Carissa was my labor and delivery as well as my postpartum nurse for the birth of my third baby girl. My third pregnancy had some complications. I had high blood pressure, low amniotic fluid levels, my baby was not growing well in utero and to top it off she was breech. The decision was made to try an external version at 37 weeks gestation with the hope she would flip and would be able to be born vaginally. 

My husband and I came in Friday morning right at 37 weeks to prepare for the external version. Carissa was amazing at explaining the entire process to me, what to expect, what medications will be used, and what the next steps would be if the first attempt failed. She was also so kind to share her own personal experience that happened to be a very similar experience to my current situation.  When she was open about her own experience and shared how the process was for her it helped me relax, relate and trust the process. 

Unfortunately, our very mighty version attempts failed after multiple tries, and my baby girl would need to be delivered via c-section. This would be my third delivery, but my very first c-section, and unplanned. I cried, hard. This was not what we were hoping for coming into the hospital that morning. Carissa was just the extra support I needed at that time. She again shared her own personal experience when she was told she needed to have a c-section after having four previous healthy vaginal deliveries and that she had the same reaction as I did. She was compassionate and understanding of my feelings and supportive in helping me accept the new plan of care. She did all of this while still making sure all of the necessary care for the new plan of care was completed. 

Carissa was there with me during my c-section and offered great support to my husband during this process. She brought my sweet baby girl over to me as soon as she was able to post-delivery. She helped me with skin-to-skin in the OR, as that was very important to me, which she knew and made sure to facilitate. Unfortunately, I got very sick from the surgery so my skin-to-skin time was stopped after about a minute. However, Carissa knew this was important to me so she helped dad do skin-to-skin in the nursery with our little girl while I was still in the OR being taken care of by the OR staff. 

Carissa then transitioned to be my PACU/postpartum nurse. She helped manage my post-surgery nausea, pain, and dizziness. I was anxiously waiting to feel better so I could see and finally snuggle my baby girl. Carissa helped get me feeling good enough for snuggles with my baby when I was told that my baby girl was having a difficult time transitioning and was now requiring extra help in the special care nursery. The nurses in the nursery were taking exceptional care of our baby girl and noticed early signs of respiratory distress while dad had been doing skin-to-skin with her. They were able to quickly get a pediatrician over to lay eyes on her and develop a plan of care for her. It was decided to give her a little extra breathing support via CPAP for a few hours to see if she would improve. 

Unfortunately, baby girl continued to decline and needed to be transferred to a higher level of care. I had yet to get out of bed and was still not feeling very well after surgery but needed to see my baby before she took flight. Carissa wasted no time in helping me get into a wheelchair and get me over to the special care nursery to see baby girl before she had to leave. Carissa and others all continued to provide exceptional care to both of us in the special care nursery until baby girl's ride arrived. After baby girl left, Carissa helped get me settled back into my postpartum room. She continued to chase my nausea, pain, and dizziness symptoms, offering multiple medications and interventions to control them. 

The next morning, Carissa was my nurse again. We had a good day. She offered great emotional and physical support. She was still helping to manage my symptoms that had yet to improve. She worked with my provider to continually assess and change my plan of care to get me feeling better. It was decided that I should stay one more night before discharging to be at the NICU with my baby girl and husband. This was hard news to hear but at the time baby girl was improving and stable. 

Around 6 pm that evening my husband called and baby was no longer as stable and she was declining again. I couldn't not be by their side any longer and made the decision that I needed to leave early at 30 hours post c-section.  Carissa not only made that happen for me, but she made it happen in a very timely manner. She coordinated with my provider to get my discharge paperwork completed. She arranged for me to get my medications at a local pharmacy in Sioux Falls the next day since it was after 6 pm on a Saturday and all local pharmacies were closed. She also made sure to coordinate take home medications for me so I would not have to go all evening without pain medication. She knew I was not in a good place to absorb discharge education so she made sure my mom was educated on how to take care of me, what medications I had last, what medications I would need next, and she made sure to write this all out for us on my discharge papers.

Carissa went above and beyond for all of my ever-changing needs for my entire length of stay albeit short. When everything kept going wrong, she was a constant support to me, who gave me some calm amongst the chaos. The hugs and tears we shared at my abrupt discharge will forever be a part of my story.