WCH Rocks!

While being in the hospital is never FUN, it does have nice moments. I suspect that the Women's College Hospital has some sort of rigorous testing system in place to make sure that all the medical professionals working there are part guardian angel or something because I've never in my life experienced so many indescribably kind people in one place. Most all of the nurses who took care of me babied me extravagantly, bringing me countless cups of ice water and apple juice, chiding me about eating my meals, tsking over the state of my poor, swollen, scabbed-up, bruised arms (from all the blood-drawing and the bandage tape that ate away my skin) and generally treating me with more compassion than I'd ever expected. There was no sense of it being anyone's job; they were genuinely caring.

Of course, they were also doing their jobs, as evidenced by the carefree way in which they regularly walked into my room and demanded to see my crotch or boobs or incision. The most amusing thing to me was Fart Watch 2009. They were very concerned about my first fart after surgery and every time anyone entered my room the first thing out of their mouth was, "Have you passed gas?" I wasn't allowed solid food until that happened, so by the end of Fart Watch I was eagerly anticipating it as well. It finally, finally happened at 10:43 a.m. on Wednesday the 5th. I farted. And it was awesome.

I think this is possibly the only time in my life I will ever openly and publicly admit to engaging in that particular bodily function, so write down the date or something.

The people who have made the strongest impression on me were Maja, the nurse in charge of me from the minute I was admitted to the high risk delivery unit, and Beverly, a lovely nurse in the NICU.

Maja really did remind me of an angel, which is SO cliched when it comes to nurses, I know, but she was an incredibly solid rock of support and comfort during a time of shock and fear for me and Andrew. We were being swept along on this unstoppable tide of sudden major surgery and our daughter coming into the world three months early, and Maja very calmly explained everything to us that she could. She also had no compunction at all about physically comforting me, putting a hand on my shoulder or hand whenever she could just to remind me that she was right there beside me. When I was getting the epidural injected into my spine she stood in front of me with her hands on my shoulders and reminded me to breathe whenever it seemed like I was getting panicked. She told me afterward that there came a moment when she herself got overwhelmed with everything going on and head to leave the operating room for a moment to breathe deep and calm down, and I have to say that I didn't even notice, she was just so ever-present and reassuring.

They delayed moving me to the recovery part of the floor long enough that Maja couldn't come with me to see Shaughnessy for the first time and she was visibly upset about it, telling me that she'd been looking forward to sharing that special moment with me and how disappointed she was that the nurse taking me was someone that I didn't even know. I was disappointed too and ended up having some separation anxiety over the abruptness of my move and being taken out of her care so suddenly. She was the best nurse I've ever had in my life, bar none, and I'm immensely grateful for her. We'll definitely be bringing in a major thank-you gift for her soon.

As for Beverly; she's a lovely, kind Australian woman who goes to great lengths to make sure that I feel involved in Shaughnessy's care and gives me as much information as she possibly can whenever she sees me, even if she's not assigned to Shaughnessy that day. She was the first NICU nurse to insist that I help her with Shaughnessy's 'hands on' care, when they change their diapers, feed them, give them a little break from the CPAP and do various other things related to their well-being. She let me pick my daughter up in my hands for the first time while she changed the bedding under her, had me wipe off her face and mouth of the bubbles they blow when they're on CPAP, take her temperature and just generally interact with her in ways I hadn't before. They do this with all the parents, yes, to ease us into taking care of a preemie, but Beverly did it with so much kindness and understanding of how I must be feeling to watch what amounts to strangers having so much more access to my own child than I do. You can tell when the nurse working with your baby actually cares about how you feel, and Beverly cares. A lot.

These are just the two standouts, of course. Like I said; almost every single person at WCH has been unfailingly kind and caring and genuine. HAVE YOUR BABIES THERE, Torontonians! I recommend it!