A Powerful Photo Reminds Us of This Hero in Every Birth Story

Whether you welcome your baby via normal vaginal delivery or C-section, a safe delivery finds us eternally grateful for our support system, from your husband and family to the doctor who helps deliver our children. How many of us though remember our dear nurses? This mom from Indiana is putting the spotlight on them with a raw and heartfelt post tribute to nurses who care for women postpartum. 

A mom of four and the woman behind the blog Baby Rabies, Jill Krause shared a photo of a nurse helping a new mom during her first trip to the bathroom. Jill remembered her own experience with the nurses who followed her to the bathroom after delivering each of her children. 

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"That moment when I was so vulnerable, so tired, scared, shaky. My swollen belly deflating, and my modesty long gone. They treated me with such kindness and dignity," Krause wrote on Facebook. "For me, these have been moments of empowerment and confirmation that I have a real village to help me, even if just for that little bit of time in a bathroom, on a toilet, while a kind nurse shows me how to put an ice pad on my mesh undies," she said. 

Katie Lacer of MommaKT Shoot Photography took the photo (and also shared it on her page) just when the nurse was helping the new mom put a cold pack in her postpartum mesh panties. "It was a quiet moment that I just happened to turn around and see. It wasn’t planned or expected. I was nearing the end of her birth story, and it seemed fitting that I would include the moment as a solid end point," she told The Huffington Post. 

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Krause shared the nurses were the ones who showed her how to do everything. Even after having her fourth baby, the nurses still helped her, assuring her that it's okay to leave a mess and encouraging her with big smiles and kind eyes. "It sounds like a small gesture, but it meant the world," she emphasized.  

Lacer dedicated the photo to all the nurses she has had the pleasure of seeing in action and has helped in every birth. "I have watched almost 100 different birth stories play out," Lacer said. "These women -- the certified nurse midwives, labor and delivery and mother/baby nurses -- are powerhouses. They advocate; they support, they celebrate."

Since Krause shared the photo, it has gotten 127,000 reactions and more than 66,000 shares. Many of the 7,700-plus comments were moms who shared her thoughts and even shared their own stories about the kindness of nurses. Other than acknowledging the great job nurses do. Lacer hopes that women also realize that "Women helping women always works. Always."

Remember to say thank you to the nurses, your doula, midwife, or doctor -- everyone who has helped you during the first moments after giving birth. 

[h/t: The Huffington Post]

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