Nurse in the house… June 25, 2011

Having a nurse in the house has already come in handy! My hubby had a stomach-flu and even after ‘singing into the great white microphone’ the stomach pains didn’t subside. A few days later, he commented to our new-graduate-nurse daughter that he felt bloated.  She did a quick inventory and she stated quite simply: “I think you have a blockage.  You better go see your doctor today.”

She called it! My poor hubby was whisked off to emergency with the official diagnosis of a partially obstructed bowel.  He spent the next couple of days lying quite still, enduring a g-tube and intravenous, but thankfully everything settled and he didn’t need corrective surgery. He was able to be home for father’s day. He was the grateful father of a brand-new nurse!

Ever since our daughter was in early high school, it was very clear that she wanted to be a nurse.  I remember walking into the family room where she was watching a TV show called “Birth Stories”.  It was series that was a mixture between documentary and reality TV and it followed women throughout their pregnancy, labor and delivery. It even showed caesarian sections; literally the tummy being sliced open and the baby being yanked out!  She was totally engrossed into the show, and quite frankly, I was just plain ‘grossed-out’.  But she loved it!

As the years went on, she would often join the conversations with new-moms about their birthing experience, and I remember chuckling while listening to her asking knowledgeable questions about the new-mom’s labor and delivery.  Most teenage girls are just interested in the new baby’s name and cute outfits; my daughter wanted to know about dilation times and episiotomies! And as you probably have experienced, most new mom’s love telling the details of their delivery.  I think it is cathartic for them… and quite damaging to those listening…

My daughter has already had the ‘hands on’ experience of delivering a baby.  This past winter she participated in her university’s cross-cultural practicum program.  Working alongside seasoned nurses in a hospital in Zambia, she watched many births. Then one morning the head nurse turned to her and said: “Do you want to delivery this one?”  She did! A baby boy.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched my daughter cross the university platform to receive her Bachelor of Science Nursing Degree and my mind was drawn to Ps 139. It is a beautiful Psalm that speaks of God’s intimate knowledge of each one of us. One verse specifically says that before we were even one day old, all our days were recorded.  Each day has already been set out before us.  Our heavenly Father knows exactly what we are going to be going through and he knows our life course. And he will give us everything we need to accomplish what he has set out before us to do.

With each new experience, there is a confidence that God is walking with us and enabling us to achieve the desires that he has put in our hearts.  He is also faithful to sustain us through the trials that we have to walk through or the testing’s that we will endure.  He has promised that he will never leave us or forsake us.

I recognize God’s hand on my daughter’s life and as she posed for pictures in her grad gown and cap, I felt a sense of joy that God was pulling her along the path of his design. Today she is in orientation as she got her dream job; she was hired onto the maternity ward of a large hospital. I am not surprised that she is a nurse. I saw this as part of her life path since she was young. I am a bit surprised that she would actually want to spend time surrounded by women in labor; but that might be because of my  “birthing stories”… let me tell you…

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