Ignorance and The View

THE VIEW

September 16, 2015

In life we encounter uneducated idiots every day who say stupid things. Trust me, as a nurse AND as T1D mom, I could write a book!   Facebook has blown up about The View and their comments about Miss Colorado's monologue about nursing. Her costume, her "doctor's stethoscope".   I hesitate to give any more attention to such idiocy, but I feel the need to say a few things.

First, way to go Miss Colorado!  Beautiful AND intelligent. I know this.... It's difficult to be both! ;)

I went to four years of college, with a child, in a faltering marriage, to get my nursing degree.  I was poor, and I often look back, baffled, on how I survived, much less how I graduated Magna Cum Laude.  I worked hard to learn and grow as a new graduate in a profession that is difficult yet rewarding.  I still learn every day. When I graduated, I bought my own stethoscope so I could fully and accurately assess my patients.  Good thing they sell them at the doctor store!

As a nurse, I focus my practice on Women's Services.  Nothing makes me happier than healthy moms and healthy babies.  I have worked in Labor & Delivery, Newborn Nursery, Post-partum, Gynecology and Neonatal Intensive Care.  Now, I work to help teach and shape future nurses, too.  It's all very rewarding, and there is a lot of information stored under this skull!

As your nurse, I am the person who helps you through hours of labor, helping you breathe, encouraging you, managing your pain.  The doctor relies on my assessment and judgment, and arrives for all the glory at the end when the baby arrives.  A large part of your delivery success lies with your nursing care; I can keep you from having an unnecessary C-section and complications.

I am the person who resuscitates your baby when he doesn't follow the rules upon entry into the world.  Some babies think breathing is optional, and I have to correct their behavior. I use my trusty stethoscope to assess what's going on inside and intervene appropriately. There is no doctor there for the baby.  It's all me. 

I am the nurse, who at 2 am, notices a problem and intervenes to prevent complications and worsening conditions.  Because, nurses are here 24 hours a day, and most doctors are asleep at 2 am.  They can sleep because we're here and they trust us.  They rely on our judgment and assessments...back to that trusty stethoscope, along with our eyes, our ears and our gut feelings.

I am the nurse who found a rare complication in your baby that even the doctor missed.  This prevented major complications and perhaps even death.  Me and my trusty stethoscope.  That family didn't thank the doctor; they thanked me...the nurse.

I am the nurse who delivers your baby at 3 am because she was in a hurry and did not find it necessary to give ample notice or wait for anyone, much less the doctor who's traveling in from home.  I help that same baby breastfeed so she receives optimal nutrition. I encourage the same mother when she wants to give up because none of this happens like it does in the movies.

I am a mommy and a nurse, and I had to learn an entirely different aspect of nursing (and mommy-hood) when my boys became ill in 2012.  When this all started, I called a nurse to help me through.

Nurses are the first and last faces you see when you arrive at the hospital.  They are the ones you see the most.  They are the ones who will stop to help, even when off duty or out in public.  Nurses are the ones who hold your hand and cry with you when life is unfair and a baby dies.  Nurses educate you about your medications, your condition and prevention of complications.  And, to do all this, nurses spent a lot of time educating themselves and innately have a lot of heart and compassion.

You see, I am that nurse who gives up family time and precious sleep to take care of moms and babies. I expose myself to blood, body fluids and sometimes irrational and dangerous behavior in order to fulfill my calling and my mission in life.  I thoroughly enjoy following a few of "my" babies on Facebook who I delivered and/or resuscitated, without a doctor and with my trusty stethoscope....babies who are now in high school, driving, and graduating!  I enjoy being the one to help our future arrive in this world safe and healthy.  Future construction workers, doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, professional sports players, soldiers, musicians...heck, maybe one day one of them will be a talk show host.  Hopefully one who doesn't make defaming and ignorant remarks about one of the most respected and recognizable professions in the country.

Thank a nurse today!

Rhonda