The Story of Diane

This week I went back to work and was thinking about how fast the time has gone. As part of my job I do visit hospitals and pediatricians and it got me thinking about one of the nurses we had while the kids were in the NICU. I have to say I've learned a lot about myself and what I need through life. When it comes to caregivers, doctors, dentists, etc I really require someone with a good bedside manner. The thing with doctors is that some are super smart and have no social skills. So I strive to find caregivers in my life that I can handle. But when you have a baby in a hospital all this goes out the window and you get an array of unsavory people. I only had to come correct on one nurse while I was there, but most of them were great.

The biggest issue of the NICU is that there are about forty nurses who work in day and night shifts and thus there is no consistency of who you get. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that our children were not seriously ill, so they didn't get a regular nurse. Becuase of my job I personally knew about four nurses and two managers that work in the NICU. Again, these nurses were aware that I was there and took very good care of us. But basically every day we walked in to visit there was someone different caring for our children. While nurses are some of the best caregivers out there, some leave little to be desired. Some nurses are very controlling, some are too frazzled to pay any attention to you and some just treat you like you're in the way. But not Diane.

We got very lucky in the first week the twins were born. We had this nurse for about for about six days straight which is very unusual. She was just wonderful and I cried all over her when her shift ended and I knew she wouldn't be back on again for awhile. She was very personable, taught Matt and I everything patiently and was almost like a family member. When we came in she would let us do everything, tell us how they were doing and she assured us the twins would be home before New Year's-even starting some of their discharge papers for us!

So here's the kicker-one afternoon my mom and I were visiting to feed the kids and it was a relaxed day and Diane had mentioned doing something for her church. I asked her where it was and she just said it was a small church. That made me figure she lived somewhere remote-like Amelia or somewhere in the country. So I asked her if she lived far away. She kind of looked at me like she didn't want to tell me and kind of hesitated. Here goes the exchange:

Me: "So you must live far from here?"
Diane: Funny look on face
Me: "Where do you live?"
Diane: "Morehead City"
Me: (with an open mouth) "You mean NORTH CAROLINA?"
Diane: Yes
Me: "How long does it take you to get here?"
Diane: "Five hours"
Me: "You drive five hours to work here?"
Diane: "Yes, that's why I work long shifts-usually four days or more."
Me: "Do you stay in a hotel?"
Diane: "No, I stay with my mother. I used to live in Richmond and my husband retired and we moved to NC. I didn't want to quit, so I decided to work one week every month and drive up here. And that was 11 years ago."
Me: Unable to speak

Seriously, I can't make this stuff up. I just remember looking at my mom in disbelief. This lady drives five hours just to keep working in the NICU-she's been driving there for ELEVEN YEARS. Amazing. And she was the one caring for our children. We are truly blessed.