letters from a nurse

I had a night at home by myself while Brian was working at his part time job tonight. So what did I do? Give Lila a bath and a bottle, rock her to sleep, do 2 cycles of laundry, load and run the dishwasher, go through all our 2010 files and start our taxes. And husbands wonder why we're so tired all the time!


In between adding up ridiculous medical expenses, I came across a letter I had stuffed away in my files. My pregnancy was long. Long and difficult and sometimes sad and often anxious. Throughout it all, my nurse at my OB office was one of the most steadfast cheerleaders. As a high risk pregnancy, I saw an attending OB at our local hospital almost every week. Jeanette was always there, holding my hand through long pauses in the ultrasound, popping me into an exam room for a doppler just to ease my worried heart and answering my pages, regardless of her busy day. The day I had Lila, she took time out of her clinic schedule to hurry over the hospital and meet the baby she had helped protect those long nine months. Shortly after I got home from the hospital with Lila, I received this letter from Jeanette that I had long forgotten about until I came across it today.

Dear Lindsay,
What a tumultous pregnancy! ... And what a wonderful outcome. Well worth all that endless waiting in the end. Hope that you and little Lila are well and that you're both sleeping more hours of the night.
Take care Lindsay, we will miss you on Tuesday afternoons.

I bet Jeanette has long forgotten about me and Lila. I bet she will never know how her hand clasped close to my face the day I was whisked up to L&D at 24 weeks pregnant in pre-term labor was one of the few things holding me together. But I will remember. Thanks Jeanette.

When I think about all the patients and their loved ones that I have worked with over the years,

I know most of them don't remember me nor I them. 

But I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them and they to me.

~Donna Wilk Cardillo