The other day at work we had a really hard situation. There was a couple that lost their baby at 37 weeks. She came in to the hospital to deliver her still born baby. We have a few different services at the hospital for these situations. We have volunteer groups that come in and do hand and foot molds of the baby, they also do some other really special things for our moms. Right now, because of COVID we are unable to have these services in the hospital. The parents have to go to the mortuary if they want these services. On the day of discharge the mother was very upset and wanted to make sure that she was going to get this service done. She wanted this memory of her baby and was worried this wasn't going to happen. I worked with the RN caring for her and made sure that the mortuary was going to do this for her. They said they would but we were still worried that the ball was going to get dropped for this patient. As the CNA was walking the patient out I walked around my unit and stopped to pick up some equipment that was left in the hall. I looked up and saw this dime sitting randomly in the hallway. I have been told that when you find a dime and angel is watching over you. I snapped the picture put the dime in my pocket and smiled thinking about what angel was watching over me.
I then walked down the hall and ran into the pediatric manager. I told her what had happened and she said "why didn't we have child life do the molds for the family while they were here" We hurried to their office and talked to them about this patient. Ellie, in child life, said "I have one more mold left, I would be happy to do this" I immediately called my CNA and asked if she was still with the parents. She said she had just said goodbye and they were headed to their car. I told her that we found a mold and she ran out to the parking lot to find them. They wanted to come up and be a part of the molding. So I told them I would meet them in Labor and Delivery.
I went over to the waiting area and met the parents. While we were waiting for everything to be ready to do the molds I felt really strongly to tell them the story about the dime. She started to cry and asked if I would send her the pictures. I also gave her the dime I had. I know her son was there with us that day. She said, "I feel like this was his way of saying wait, I am not ready to say goodbye"
It was such a special experience. I LOVE moments when I am able to connect with our patients. I am blessed to be in a career where I can be influenced by amazing patients and their families. I know angels are all around us.
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