The Nomination

Most likely you do not remember me, and that’s ok. You see countless faces in a day, let alone a year.

My son Peter was born March 4, 2019.  When he was about 3 months old I came into Dr. Becht’s office with problems bottle feeding him. He would not take a bottle and I so desperately wanted to get him on a bottle and be done breastfeeding since I had 3 other kiddos at home I felt getting him on a bottle would be my saving grace. It was taking me an hour to breastfeed that little guy! But when I tried to bottle feed him it would always leak out the sides. He would get hardly any in his mouth. What a shame to see all that pumped breastmilk being wasted!

Anyways, Dr. Becht suggested going up to OB and seeing you since you have some lactation training. You assessed my little guy and thought that perhaps he had a tongue tie. You also shared your own story in that you had issues with your baby boy and that you went to a lactation consultant and learned that he had a bubble palate.

I had told you that I was set to go see a basking babies consultant the following week and you encouraged me that even though it was quite a chunk of change to go see her that I would not regret going. And to this day I do not regret that choice! It was so nice to hear from you that day that I was not losing my mind and it was not all in my head. To hear that another mom went through something similar with her own son was so reassuring and those were the words I needed to hear that day.

I wanted to write to you and say Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to look at my son that day. It was not part of your job necessarily, but you still took the time to do so.

Thank you for encouraging me to see that lactation consultant because I did end up going to see her and come to find out he had both a tongue and lip tie (which we had revised) and he also had a bubble palate just like your son.

I ended up exclusively breastfeeding him all the way till he was 15 months old!!! And I attribute some of that to you! It was not an easy journey, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to breast feed him that whole time. God taught me so much through it and I have such special memories looking back on that time.  I grew a lot through it. But without your encouragement to go see that lactation consultant I do not think I would have gone to see her and who knows how our story would have ended up. I am so thankful for having seen you that day and for the help and encouragement you gave me. Your encouragement that day was like a second wind on an extremely long marathon!

The biggest thing that sticks out to me from that day was that you did not push me. I never once felt pressured to breast feed. Never once felt condemned for wanting to bottle feed. You were so supportive with whatever way it ended up being. You genuinely just wanted what was best for both baby and mom. That is huge and a rare find! I had talked to a lot of friends and family before I had met with you and they all seemed to have an opinion and I felt pressure from both sides. I thought with your having had training in the field of lactation that of course you would push for breastfeeding. But to my pleasant surprise you did not. Again that is so extremely rare. You genuinely just wanted to help.

I’ve had 3 of my babies at Cass Health. You helped me with two of them and I’ll always remember you as the most amazing nurse there! You genuinely care for the mama and babe. I can remember when I had both my boys you always made sure that I had everything I needed. You even went so far as to help me to get the visitors to leave and for me to get rest. You even got my in-laws to leave!! We all know how hard that can be!!! HAHA! That was HUGE to me! Because after having a baby a mom’s body is so tired and I am so thankful that you advocated for me to get the much-needed rest at the hospital because once I went home rest wasn’t going to be possible! You took the weight off me of having to ask the visitors to leave and just asked them yourself.

So thank you! Thank you for being your amazing, down to earth, kind, and patient self. You are an amazing nurse! I can tell for you it is not just a job, it is a passion, and you love what you do and you are amazing at it! Finding people who do not just do their jobs but love their jobs are so rare! You are a rare gem in this world! Your kind of passion and selfless genuine care for people is something that I strive toward personally, and it is something so seldom found anymore. You challenge me and inspire me to take that same kind of passion and genuine care for people into my home, church, and community!

Sorry it took me so long to write this, it’s been a long time coming. Things got super crazy at my house with four kiddos. But it does not change the fact that I did want to say Thank you and let you know how amazing you are! So thank you all the same!!