Meredith: Becoming the One Comforted
Late one Thursday night in October, Meredith, an expectant mom and Clinical Nurse Manager in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Children’s Memorial Hermann, went into labor. At 36 weeks pregnant, Meredith packed her bags and woke her husband to go to the Women’s Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital for the birth of their first child. She never imagined that her new baby would become a patient in her very own unit at the hospital.
On Saturday, October 18, 2008, Meredith’s baby, Avery, entered the world a healthy 7 pounds 15 ounces. Meredith, her husband Carl, and the nurses on staff shared in the happiness of the new baby girl. The nurses took Avery into recovery in the low risk nursery where they noticed that she had trouble breathing. The nurses gave her oxygen and quickly made the decision to transport her to the NICU. There, Avery showed signs of infection and heightened blood pressure. Within just hours of being born, Avery had a breathing tube inserted, was put on a ventilator, and prescribed many medications, all the while being monitored by the NICU nurses – Meredith’s coworkers who were now her baby’s caregivers.
“The whole experience was surreal. In my line of work, I’m the one who comforts the parents of babies in the NICU. Now, I was the parent being comforted,” Meredith says. “Looking at my experience through a parent’s eyes, I had never felt helplessness like that, but I had complete confidence in the team of doctors and nurses to know we would get through it.”
Avery’s difficulties were caused by premature lungs. After a 10-day stay and constant monitoring at Children’s Memorial Hermann, Avery recovered and was able to go home. Today, she is healthy, happy, and discovering all of life’s wonders as she continues to grow.
“Those ten days at the hospital were the longest ten days of our lives,” Carl adds. “Having the proper immediate care at Children’s Memorial Hermann kept Avery on the right track to recovery.”