I Touched Her Belly and It Touched Her Heart

摘要

She was 16 years old, 33 weeks pregnant, and in pain. This was her third visit in a week to our labor and delivery (L&D) unit. I'll call her A.R. She was a familiar face to some of the nurses on the unit because they had cared for her during previous admissions, at which time she was found not to be in labor and sent home. A.R. was always accompanied by her mother and her aunt, but there was very little verbal exchange among them that could be observed. The father of the baby was said to be involved but was not with her. The L&D unit was somewhat busy (not crazy), and I was assigned to care for A.R. Before meeting her, I knew that she was a 16-year-old adolescent coming to the hospital because she was reportedly having painful labor contractions. It was approximately 10 p.m., 3 hours into my 12-hour night shift, when she arrived. She would be my only patient at the time, which ended up being wonderful because I was able to focus only on her. I did not realize when she was admitted how valuable that time spent with her would be Because this was her third visit to the unit, A.R. was familiar with the routine of undressing and having the electronic fetal heart monitor attached.