Family Birth Center Team Shines at Decatur Memorial Hospital

As she prepared to give birth for the first time, Andrea Cardinal, 38, expected a challenge because of her age. But the Mt. Zion resident experienced a rare complication – a ruptured fibroid on her uterus – which led to significant bleeding and a Cesarean delivery. The new mom received two blood transfusions following the birth.

Thankfully, Andrea was surrounded by a top-notch team at Decatur Memorial Hospital (DMH). Not only was her son Ciro born strong and healthy, but the nursing team also helped her through a more involved recovery.

Kari Lynch, RN, with the DMH Family Birth Center, led the charge.

“She just made me feel very safe,” said Andrea about Kari’s care. “I am usually a take-charge person, so it was hard to be helpless those first couple days. The second Kari came in, she started organizing the room. She made sure we had everything we needed and was very good at assessing what I needed help with and what the baby needed help with.”

Kari made sure the doctor came in to see Andrea first thing, sent for a nurse to collect bloodwork, arranged for a CT scan to assess if there was any internal bleeding, scheduled a second blood transfusion and brought in intermittent pulmonary compression devices to protect against blood clots in Andrea’s legs.

She reassessed Andrea’s meds and worked with her on breastfeeding techniques with Ciro. She also updated the night nurse on all the nuances of Andrea’s recovery for optimum care throughout the night.

By the third day, Andrea was feeling much better and more physically prepared to go home.

“Kari made me feel very safe, secure and well taken care of,” Andrea said. “We also had a thorough housekeeper, friendly food service workers, kind doctors and nurses and calming pre-operation nurses. I feel fortunate to have had kind, compassionate care throughout my entire stay.”

For more information about Decatur Memorial Hospital and their Family Birth Center, visit memorial.health