This story was written by a client of Rest Assured Infant Nursing
When my husband and I learned we were having twins, we were inundated with advice about everything from bouncy seats to baby names. But one suggestion that kept recurring, especially from parents of multiples, was that we would need a night nurse to help us manage the sleeplessness that was sure to come. And the advice always came with a caution – “You better find someone soon because the good night nurses book up fast.”
The first reference we received was through a friend of a friend who recommended “Anna” (not her real name) who we interviewed as fast as we could. She seemed like an ideal candidate – she said she had worked in Britain as a nurse, was an expert in getting twins on an eating and sleeping schedule, and could help us prepare the house for their arrival. That all sounded great to us, including the accent. Anna asked us if we had any specific questions.
Since we had never vetted a night nurse before, we really didn’t know what else to ask other than to ask for references. And all the references checked out. We signed a contract 6 months before our due date and checked the box – we had a “night nurse” ready to go.
On the day the twins were born, we let Anna know that we would need her to start as soon as the babies were cleared to come home. In response, we received a text message – yes a text message – informing us that she had to cancel the contract for personal reasons. We were appalled that a professional would back out of a contract with absolutely no notice and with a text message no less.
In a subsequent conversation, we learned something we should have found out during the interview. Despite calling herself a “night nurse,” Anna was not actually an RN. We told her that she had represented to us that she was an actual nurse and she disagreed. Anna said that most night nurses are not, in fact, actual RNs, but they use the term anyway to describe what they do. We had never thought to question her credentials as a nurse based on the interview, but perhaps we should have.
At that point, we were desperate – where could we get a night nurse – an actual nurse on such short notice? Most importantly, because the babies had arrived early and spent time in the NICU, our needs had changed from hoping to get some extra sleep to needing professional health care provider to monitor the babies since we couldn’t always do it ourselves.
Another friend who heard of our predicament recommended a service rather than an individual.
The service, it turned out – Rest Assured Infant Nursing – had already vetted and hired registered nurses who specialize in pediatric care. And because they had more than a dozen nurses already on staff, they were available to help us on such short notice.
For the next four months we relied on Rest Assured Infant Nursing – at first for four nights a week, and then two – until our son and daughter were able to sleep through the night. But it turned out that the nurses – and one nurse in particular – helped us with much more than sleep. She was with us when our son showed early signs of a condition that eventually required surgery. As first time parents, we did not know if we were oversensitive to his difficult digestion. But when the RAIN nurse, who had also become a good friend, told us that our son needed to see a doctor, we sought help immediately. And when my husband and I both found ourselves in the emergency room with our son late one night, the same nurse cared for our daughter at home in our absence. And we were very much assured that our daughter was well taken care of.
After what we have been through over the past four months, we would eagerly join the chorus of those who say a night nurse is indispensable in those early days, especially for parents of multiples. And when we say a “night nurse,” we mean an actual nurse who not only knows how to feed and diaper a baby, but who is a trained professional who knows what to look for in terms of possible trouble during those first precious days home. Looking back, we wish we had known that a night nurse may not actually be a nurse and we wish we had started with Rest Assured Infant Nursing at the beginning. Working through a service, we found, helps ensure quality and flexibility, both of which proved essential to the health and well-being of our twins who are doing great today.
