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I am a nurse. For 30 years of my career, I was a labor and delivery nurse. I took care of women through all stages of labor and through their delivery. Due to the many times that I have worked 16 hour shifts, I bonded with many women and helped them through long hours. Finally, through much work on the mom’s part with my guidance, she would be ready to deliver. In would sail the doctor, spend five minutes catching the baby, and then pose for all the pictures. I would hear from the families how wonderful he/she was.

Really?

Then why is my back killing me because I stood for two to three hours with a woman in a variety of positions including resting her foot on my shoulder while she pushed? Oh, and did I mention that she is also paralyzed from the waist down from the epidural, so I was also helping to hold her up while she squatted to push?

Why have I had to change my scrub clothes twice in a shift because someone either puked on me or amniotic fluid soaked everything?

Really?

Who is it that actually got that IV started while reassuring the poor mom?

Who is it that took the camera out of the daddy’s trembling hand and started taking family pictures because she knew that otherwise there would be no proof that he had even been in the room? And capturing the look of wonder on both parent’s faces at the same time.

Who is it that cleaned up every body fluid that can spew from a human, with a smile on her face and encouraging words for the mortified patient who has never been sick in front of a stranger in her life?

Who is it that tracked down the anesthesia people, chased them out of the lounge, and threatened them with their lives if they didn’t take care of her patient, NOW?

And when things didn’t go well, who was it that took that poor baby that didn’t make it, cleaned it up, dressed it, wrapped it in a soft blanket, and brought it to the broken-hearted parents to hold for the first and last time?

Oh, yeah, Dr. Marvelous is just great.

I’m just a nurse.

– Kathy Hurst Davis, Nurse, quoted in this Slate article. (via thedaysofforever)

Nurses are so underappreciated, like, seriously guys. All of my best memories from hospitals as a child were because of nurses.

(via didifallasleepforalittlewhile)

..I’ll never forget the first baby I caught as a student nurse because the doctor was out buying a magazine or something because the mom was “only 50 cents’ worth of dilated” and couldn’t possibly be ready to deliver for another three or four hours. Oh yeah.

Most doctors are wonderful. No question. But 90% of the people who take care of you in the hospital are the nurses.

(via dduane)

Important.

(via alexandraelle)

Nurses, especially in hospitals, are the front line of your care. They’re the ones who are always available at the touch of a button. And it’s been nurses who have saved my life on three separate occasions. Praise all good things in the universe for nurses. Underappreciated, under-resourced and woefully underpaid nurses.

(via amaditalks)

Is it bad of me to reblog this with pride?

Is it bad of me to reblog this for the awesome people I work with who spend hours chasing down doctors, making sure that people’s plans-of-care involve the right treatment; delivering the right drugs; getting analgesia sorted and working really f*cking hard to be slagged off day-in, day-out by Murdoch’s god-awful news empire (and ignored entirely by the BBC)?

Because nurses are damn important, and we disappear into the background so much.