As the locked double doors open to labor and delivery (L&D), your face shows that you’ve entered an unknown world.

As your nurse, I’ll be taking care of two patients: you and your baby. You, I can physically see, hear, and touch. To observe your baby, I’ll rely on monitors to assess.

As your nurse, I wear several hats and must know when to switch them based on your status, acuity, and both your pregnancy-related and unrelated health conditions. L&D is its own world, several specialties wrapped in one location and with many gray areas requiring flexibility. Uniquely, if your unborn baby needs care, you receive the intervention.

I’ll care, educate, and advocate for you, but this will be your story. I’ll provide evidence-based care to get you through it.

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It's hard to be vulnerable, to trust me with not only your health, but with the health of your unborn baby. Couple that with anticipation, the overwhelm of contractions, and questions about whether you can handle the pain, and your body races with emotion. I’ll care, educate, and advocate for you, but this will be your story. I’ll provide evidence-based care to get you through it.

The labor process is different for every patient, and there is no way to control every aspect. I will spend my entire shift getting you through the various stages of labor, building intimacy and rapport with you and your family. I might make silly jokes to get you through the pain, hold your hand during the epidural, and make you a special mocktail drink as a sweet treat. I am your cheerleader and guide.

And when your beautiful baby enters this world, and is placed in your arms, I can’t wait to say, “Way to go, Mama! You did it!”

Melissa (COLL ’02, BSN ’24) has been a labor and delivery nurse for 16 years and currently works at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, Va. This fall, she begins the BSN-DNP program with a PMHNP track. She is the mom of two older children.