Recently, Jill Krause, a writer and mom of four, saw the photo below (taken by Katie Lacer) and was overcome with gratitude for the labor, delivery, and postpartum nurses who guided her through her most vulnerable moments. She put her thoughts into a Facebook post that quickly went viral.
The post reads:
I'll never forget the faces of the nurses who followed me into the bathroom after delivering each baby. That moment when I was so vulnerable, so tired, scared, shaky. My swollen belly deflating, and my modesty long gone. They treated me with such kindness and dignity. For me, these have been moments of empowerment and confirmation that I have a real village to help me, even if just for that little bit of time in a bathroom, on a toilet, while a kind nurse shows me how to put an ice pad on my mesh undies. This photo by my friend MommaKT Shoots just takes me right back. Like, I can smell the Dermaplast. Let's hear it for the nurses and the doulas and anyone else who shows us how to make ice pad underwear (or helps with that first shower post c-section!) <3
Within a day Krause's post had been shared over 24,000 times.
Soon moms started commenting with their own incredible stories of gratitude for the nurses they encountered.
"When I was pushing, I'll never forget pulling my face away from my nurse's chest to see her scrub top SOAKED with my sweat and tears. I was like, 'Oh my god I'm so sorry!' And she said, 'Baby, this is life all over my shirt. Nowhere else I'd rather be. Now let's get that baby out.'" —Leigh Kathleen, Facebook
"I will never forget the nurse that helped me get to the bathroom for the first time after I had my daughter. I was hemorrhaging and when I stood it was so humiliating...but that kind soul didn't flinch. I kept apologizing and she kept reassuring me that it was nothing. I will never forget watching her clean my legs and I just kept thinking that this is what my God means when he says love your neighbor." —Tiffany Barnes
"No one really talks about those moments after, where your dignity is gone and things you never thought possible are happening to your body and it all hurts and you're in awe and also kinda want to die. The nurses know, and thank Beyoncé for them." —Mandy Morrison, Facebook
"My husband and I lost our daughter at 23 weeks two years ago, and delivered our rainbow baby boy at the same hospital this May. All the nurses I had knew our history, and when my son was born he wasn't breathing. He was immediately taken away to the NICU and I just could not stop sobbing. My nurses cried with me. They rubbed my hair and my back and did everything they possibly could to get me mobile and up to see my sweet boy in the NICU." —Lauren Self, Facebook
Thank you, nurses. Thank you.
