Caring For A Family Suffering A Fetal Demise

Tears are pouring down my face. Thank you on your poignant story. This should be printed and posted in all OB break rooms.

That was absolutely beautiful. I worked on an OB floor for 15 years as a Tech and I have seen some amazing nurses help parents cope with such a loss..while still a Tech on that floor, my husband and I had a fetal demise(21 weeks, 3rd pregnancy) I was shocked and sad..I suddenly knew what it felt to be on the "other side of things" ..working on a L& D unit is often filled with joy and healthy babies, but we need to remember that , at times, we are faced with sickly babies, addicted moms and fetal demises...I am now in nursing school and I wont forget my experience and now I will remember your story...

this is a really beautiful article. i am sitting here in tears wishing i had you as a nurse when i lost my son 2 years ago. thank you for sharing your story, and thank you for being such an angel for this family.

that was a beautiful, touching story. she was blessed to have you as a nurse. i wish that i could say more, but it is difficult to type with these tears streaming down my face. may god bless you.:heartbeat

Thank you for sharing your moving story. This is the reason why one of our Neonatologist started a support groups for parentsexperiencing these type of loss. It's called: Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton Prenatal/Neonatal Supportive Care Program. If you need to know more about it, you can always email me and I'll give you her contact info. Maybe, you can start a program like this one in your hospital.Jazzy163

This tale restore my faith, at least a bit in OB nurses. You see, we lost child, a son at 20 weeks due to a placental abruption. The nurses were cold, distant and unyielding in their intention for us to move on. My wife and I held our son as long as we humanly could, but even that wasn't long enough. He died in our arms. The nurses, while I sometimes rationalize were "giving us our space," I would have killed for a kind word, or glance from them to my wife, some extra comfort I could not give. But we got nothing. We were left alone in our grief, our tears and shattered dreams. And then discharged the moment they could get us (her) out the door.With our daughter, who came next, it was much the same as she clung to life in a NICU. Post-partum nurses could have cared less of our situation, or the psychological state we were both in, but again, nothing. I could go on, but I think y'all can see the point.Thank you for being there, thank you for being such a caring and human nurse, thank you for stepping outside yourself to care so deeply and selflessly for a complete stranger. Thank you for restoring my faith.Regards,Tom

Thank you for such a touching story...I work in OB and this is what they don't tell you about in school. Very poignant, and I think I will put this up in our break room...

God bless you for being such a caring nurse. Losing a child has to be one of (if not THE) worst thing imaginable and as nurses we should all be as compassionate as you.

thank you for being.....just thank you for being. *hug*

You are what I aspire to be. I printed this and I will read it as often as I can to inspire me to fulfill my dreams of being a compassionate nurse.Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

What a sad story. Thank you for sharing and for being there for that family.I am specifically avoiding L&D because, from my knowledge of birth, I just don't know how I could be that woman that tells a mother to be that I cannot give her the care/pain meds/freedom of movement that she needs, because the doc is still clinging to archaic 1950's methods (particularly when he is not there to be the one who holds the woman's hand as she cries and writhes in agony that could be so easily relieved w/ a dose of pain reliever). I don't know how you do it, but I commend you.

Thank you for your story. It had me in tears. You were great...just being present like you were. I'm going into 3rd qrter (in the fall), and the first half clinical is in L&D. I will remember your story. We have been taught the importance of being present. You are the perfect example of this. It was nice to know that you cried along with your client. I have always been so self-conscious of crying and afraid to do so in front of clients. Maybe I shouldn't.