The Unbreakable Bond

I am so inspired by reading Kim's stories of nursing on the job intertwined with life lessons, that I felt compelled to share this story.

About 25 years ago, I was working as a nurse at a large teaching medical center hospital.  It was the go to place for high risk births and neonatal intensive care.

I was working in the adult ICU that day, and we had a 30 some year old woman admitted from the ER who was 30 weeks pregant with a severe kidney infection.  She arrived in the unit fully conscious but quite ill.

Over the next few weeks she would progressively deteriorate until she was comatose.  Massive amounts of antibiotics were given to this woman in all different strengths, flavours and colours.  This patient was rapidly deteriorating and because of this, started to go into premature labour.  A premature 32-week gestational baby girl was delivered vaginally in the adult ICU in the presence of the Neonatal intensive team.  The baby was immediately taken up to the Neonatal ICU.

For my next shift, I was working in Neonatal ICU and caring for this infant girl.  She was small, required the expected tube feeding because she was a preemie, but was very pink and very healthy.

The shift after that, I was helping out in adult ICU again, where I witnessed this mother go into one cardiac arrest after another.  When all was said and done she had a total of 7 cardiac arrests, some episodes lasting 30 minutes and more, where CPR was getting to be a routine treatment in Bed #7.

"Here we go again".  That was the sentiment when "Code Blue" was called yet again as her heart monitor would ring off a flat line.  More antibiotics.  Super, duper, duper powerful ones.  She was in septic shock.  Her heart was clearly failing.  Her entire body was in failure.  And she just kept clinging to life by a thread that none of us nurses could even fathom was there anymore.

We all thought that surely this mom who had just given birth to her second child, would have brain damage so severe, that even if she recovered from her sepsis, would essentially live in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.

A nurse up in Neonatal ICU had this brilliant idea of bringing the baby in her incubator, down to the adult ICU where her mom was essentially dying and barely clinging to life.

I would not have believed what happened next was I not there myself.

They took the baby out of the incubator and put her on her mom's belly.  As soon as the baby was on her belly, the woman we all thought was brain dead began creating tears that started running from her eyes down the sides of her face.

That was the turning point.  That was when it was clear that there was no greater bond than love.  That there was no greater healer than love.  That the strength that helps us ascend to more than we thought we could be - to more than we thought we could do - was love.

The weeks passed by, and the baby was brought down daily from Neonatal to lay on her mama's belly.  Mama regained consciousness.  She regained her health.  And when she was ready to leave the ICU and go home, she was ready to walk, but used a wheelchair instead so she could hold her baby at the same time while leaving the ICU behind.

I never heard what happened to this woman after her miraculous recovery.  I sometimes wonder what she and her daughter are doing today.  The mom would be in her late 50s and her daughter would be a few years older than my own daughter. 

Wherever they are, I wish them well, and God bless.  Grace is all around us.