How One L&D Nurse Brings the Hope of Christ into Her Patient Care

1.     How has COVID stripped joy and dignity from Labor and delivery?

In terms of joy and dignity, for nursing specifically, the hardest part has been the lack of care from leadership for bedside RNs. Though we have had PPE (we never ran out because we are a big hospital) there has been very little, support, thank yous for our hard work and sacrifice or acknowledgement of the toll this pandemic has taken on bedside RNs. In fact, because of the pandemic, celebrations for nurses’ week were taken away and our PTO has been cut. The things that would normally breathe life into us during times of exhaustion and burn out have been removed. The leadership doesn’t seem to realize that nurses are enduring the most difficult hurdle of their careers and are not adequately supporting them through it. The hardest thing is not actually the pandemic itself, but the repercussions of the pandemic on nurses. 

Joy has also been taken from patients during this season. One difficult thing for the patients has been the policy changes to visitation. Visitations at the system I work at have been cut to no visitations- except for dying and birth. In our hospital a laboring mom can have one visitor. When you can only have one person, it absolutely takes the joy out of having a baby. Women are forced to pick and choose between their support system. 

Also, Women have to push a baby out with a mask on. Can you imagine that? And if a mom is COVID positive, there are other stressors. At one point our facility was encouraging these new (COVID positive) moms to separate from their babies for two weeks, and to wear masks while nursing. Can you imagine being told to do that as a new mom? Not one of our patients wanted to adhere to those guidelines, and for good reason. How can the mother and baby bond under those conditions?

Has COVID taken joy, absolutely. And because it has stolen joy, I have found that your words and actions matter more now than ever before. The non-verbal communication we have so heavily relied on the past, has been removed and is now unseen due to the PPE that we wear all day. That removal of non-verbal cues has made it more of a challenge to compassionately care. It’s like sending a text versus face-to-face conversation. Just as the heart of a conversation is missed in a text, the heart of a person can easily by lost behind the layers of PPE. Conversely, all of the joy and sorrow that we see in our patients in L&D is now hidden under a mask- the smiles, tears, anger, frustration, every emotion is now hidden from view.  

2.     How do you bring the gospel into your patient care?

 So, it’s very interesting that you ask… I work with the extremes. I’m sure that hospice nurses would say the same thing. Gospel conversations naturally come up in times of grief and sorrow. It’s actually in those moments that I have those opportunities. I intentionally wear a cross necklace with the hope that people will ask about it. 

There are many times that when patients see my necklace, when I’m holding them as they cry, they ask if I can pray with them. Prayers are often sought out and welcome in my line of work. People are more open to hear about God’s love, especially when there is a loss. The opportunity for gospel conversation is there more in sorrowful times than times of extreme joy.

My husband’s job comes up a lot. He is a pastor, so when people hear what his profession is, it either shuts them up real quick or opens the door to more questions. 

One of my favorite parts is how am able to minister to other Christians in the best and worst days of their lives. When they hear that I am a Christian, it automatically opens everything up. Having spiritual conversations with them ministers to both hem and me as well. I look forward to caring for these brothers and sisters and have formed sweet friendships with them during their stay. 

I also think a woman that lived on our floor while she waited for a safe time to deliver her baby. This particular encounter was this past year, during COVID. She was a Christian, but had struggled the with isolation that our new visitation policy brought. For those months she had virtually no visitors and we Christian nurses became her family. Because of our mutual love for Christ, we could relate to and love on her in a way that our non-believing peers just couldn’t. Through that experience, I learned that we have the unique opportunity to bring the body of Christ to Christians who are sick and ailing in the hospital. 

This is a super important idea to understand and act upon, especially in settings where the patient spends an extended time in isolation. For the Christian patient in this situation, they have been removed from much (if not all) of their support that would normally point them to Christ. They have been removed from church, from their family, from their normal rhythms of life. Because they are not in their normal rhythm, but a hospital rhythm, they might not be reading the Word consistently. And their friends that would normally keep them accountable are now removed from their lives, do to increasingly restricted visitor policies. And their spouse that might encourage them in the Lord may not be present, or might be present in a very limited capacity. That is a lonely and spiritually discouraging place to be. As believers, we can step into those spaces and temporarily be the Body, that pushes them to Jesus. 

As far as with peers, there is nothing like working as a nurse with other believers. We have deeper bonds, both from our mutual love for the Lord and our experience in the trenches of healthcare. For my non-believing friends, they know where I stand. Their presence keeps me in check- that my actions and words are above reproach and reflective of Jesus. I try to listen to my co-workers lives and be there for them in both their good and bad seasons. That friendship in the fun times gives me a right to be present in the hard times. 

3.     How does the gospel shine a light in socially messy situations?

When things like terminations come up, we have to go through mandatory training. Termination is a highly contentious topic, so I don’t initiate conversations unless someone asks me. However, if someone asks, it does give me an opportunity to share my beliefs. I think many people expect an emotional reply from a pro-life Christian, but I try my hardest to replace emotion with calm logic. How I respond to questions about my pro-life beliefs shows others that Christians who are pro-life are not just emotional.  There is conviction and faith at work in my beliefs, which are backed up by science. This approach has served me well so far and I have been able to have some really good discussions with my peers. 

Overall, I’m still learning and growing, both as a nurse and in the role that God has placed me in. I just try to take a hold of the opportunities that come my way to shine the hope of Christ in my patient care. 

Kristen is a Labor and Delivery nurse at a hospital in Indiana. As a mom herself, she loves supporting women and their families as they bring new life into the world.