Heather, the night nurse, grabbed a clipboard and introduced Ally and me as the next people to take care of the patient for the day. She went over the last time the patient had taken medicine, then asked where her pain was on a scale of one to ten and if she had any questions.
“Do either of you object to having a student help with your care today?”
“No.” She said sitting up and giving me a kind smile. “You have to learn somehow.”
“That I do.” I moved to the side of Lindy’s and put gloves on, the non allergenic material sticking to my sweaty skin. Then I got the thermometer ready by putting a plastic covering on it. “Please place this under your tongue for me.”
She did, and I prepared to take her blood pressure. I briefly recalled having read that an abnormal blood pressure after giving birth was a huge red flag that something could be wrong. The thermometer beeped, and it was normal—I repeated the reading to Ally, who documented it and wrote it on the markerboard where the patient could see.
“Excuse me while I try to navigate through all the IVs,” I said, wrapping the Velcro material around her upper arm. One IV was positioned in an awkward spot, so I had to twist and turn the cords until they were straight. “Okay, keep your arm straight and flat for me.”
The machine started tightening around her. She stared at me for a second and I wanted to ease the worry on her face. “Is there any way to have more pain medication?” Lindy asked, her husband coming up to rub her arm. “I couldn’t sleep more than twenty minutes.”
“We can call your doctor to see if we can order another medication to help,” Ally said, still using the same confident tone. “We’ll make sure to send the request at a higher priority, hopefully won’t take too long. ”
“Please.” She smiled but her stress was visible. My chest ached for her. I couldn’t imagine not being in the room with my child, despite knowing the team in the NICU was the best there was.
“Did you have a boy or a girl?”
“A little baby girl. She’s perfect,” she said, emotion clogging her voice. She reached her other hand out to her husband, who clasped hers, before she looked back at me. “She’s upstairs in the NICU. Her bilirubin was elevated.”
I nodded but couldn’t hide my frown from them. “Oh, I’m so sorry you have to spend some time away from her, but she is in amazing hands.”
“That’s what I keep repeating in my head.”
“Have you been up to see her yet?” I asked. Relief went through me when her blood pressure was normal.
“No. The lactation consultant is coming in an hour, so we’ll go after that.” Lindy’s tired face softened as she exhaled. “I did get to hold her, though. It was the most… incredible thing. Do you have children?”
“I don’t. Maybe one day. But right now? It’s all about finishing school.”
“I get it.” She smiled, and I patted her hand before getting back to work.
“Vitals are good. Okay, all set.”
“Thank you.” Her voice wavered with emotion, and I felt something tighten in my chest.
“Of course.” I shot her a small smile, but my attention caught on Ally watching me, one side of her mouth tugged up—her version of approval. It hit me like a lightning bolt.
She said nothing as she scanned Lindy’s wristband, verified her date of birth, then explained the meds we had for her to take. Finally handing her the medication. “We’ll be back in a bit with more pain meds, but call if you need anything, okay?”
“We will.”
As we stepped into the hallway, Ally pushed the cart ahead of her, nodding toward the next room. “Take note, Michelle—not every patient will be like them.”
“What do you mean?”
She didn’t answer. Her phone buzzed, and she was already walking ahead.
Hours later, I understood. Some patients were demanding, some flat-out rude, and my face ached from forcing a polite smile.
So when we got paged back to Lindy’s room, I sighed in relief.
Ally chuckled, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll learn to appreciate the patients who treat you like a person instead of the help. Not all of them will be as dramatic as 127B or 138B, but I remind myself—they just gave birth.”
“Good call.”
Inside the room, Lindy looked better, more awake. “Hi,” she greeted us.
