Haley Herbeck
March 2026
Haley
Herbeck
,
BSN, RN
Labor and Delivery
Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Town and Country
,
MO
United States
truly believe we would not have gotten to experience it in such a way without the knowledge and expertise Haley showed.
I was admitted to labor and delivery last weekend to deliver our first child. To get the process started, I needed an IV placed. Several nurses attempted to insert one but were unsuccessful after four sticks. Soon, a call was placed to their charge nurse, Haley. She was calm and confident and placed one on her first try. With my IV, we were able to proceed with getting an epidural, and the labor process went quickly and uneventfully.
Around 2 a.m., it was time for me to start pushing, and meeting my baby was just around the corner. I pushed and pushed for hours, not expecting it to take as long as it did or be as physically taxing as it was. Nearing 2.5 hours of what felt like never-ending work without much progress, the team was starting to mention needing a suction cup for my bay’s head and even the possibility of a c-section, if this continued too much longer.
At this point, morale was low, and I was in tears. I was physically and emotionally exhausted after being up nearly 24 hours and using all my energy pushing. My husband was also exhausted from feeding me encouragement to progress that had absolutely stalled out, and he watched my pain and tears.
Our nurse stepped out of the room momentarily and returned with the charge nurse, Haley. She took over coaching my pushing, and I believe if she hadn’t intervened, I would not have had a successful vaginal delivery. Haley looked me right in my eyes and told me we were going to get this baby out. She had me pushing in new positions and was fierce with her coaching. I hadn’t pushed harder, and she was demanding more of me. In 40 minutes, we made more progress than I had in several hours before. She was relentless in her demands, but it truly turned the energy in the room around 180 degrees.
Quickly, we had made enough progress for the OB to come in and prepare to deliver our baby. We kept the sex of the baby a surprise, and my husband got to help deliver, with the plans to announce if we had a new baby girl or boy. Watching my husband help pull our first child into this world and seeing that we were parents to a beautiful, healthy baby girl will be a memory I cherish for my whole life. I truly believe we would not have gotten to experience it in such a way without the knowledge and expertise Haley showed. We will forever be grateful to her for getting our sweet girl into my arms.
Around 2 a.m., it was time for me to start pushing, and meeting my baby was just around the corner. I pushed and pushed for hours, not expecting it to take as long as it did or be as physically taxing as it was. Nearing 2.5 hours of what felt like never-ending work without much progress, the team was starting to mention needing a suction cup for my bay’s head and even the possibility of a c-section, if this continued too much longer.
At this point, morale was low, and I was in tears. I was physically and emotionally exhausted after being up nearly 24 hours and using all my energy pushing. My husband was also exhausted from feeding me encouragement to progress that had absolutely stalled out, and he watched my pain and tears.
Our nurse stepped out of the room momentarily and returned with the charge nurse, Haley. She took over coaching my pushing, and I believe if she hadn’t intervened, I would not have had a successful vaginal delivery. Haley looked me right in my eyes and told me we were going to get this baby out. She had me pushing in new positions and was fierce with her coaching. I hadn’t pushed harder, and she was demanding more of me. In 40 minutes, we made more progress than I had in several hours before. She was relentless in her demands, but it truly turned the energy in the room around 180 degrees.
Quickly, we had made enough progress for the OB to come in and prepare to deliver our baby. We kept the sex of the baby a surprise, and my husband got to help deliver, with the plans to announce if we had a new baby girl or boy. Watching my husband help pull our first child into this world and seeing that we were parents to a beautiful, healthy baby girl will be a memory I cherish for my whole life. I truly believe we would not have gotten to experience it in such a way without the knowledge and expertise Haley showed. We will forever be grateful to her for getting our sweet girl into my arms.