Labor and Delivery Nurse Who Went Viral on Her very tough and Emotional Job

A woman’s touching tribute to her labor and delivery nurse sister who came to her house after a particularly rough shift has gone viral, as it provides some insight into what she had gone through during four days of work.

Laura McIntyre snapped a photo of her sister, Caty Nixon, crying on a chair in her house while still in her blue scrubs.

“She’s gonna kill me for this pic, but can we just give it up for nurses for a minute?” McIntyre wrote, on Oct. 10. “Caty just wrapped up her fourth shift in a row. That’s around 53+ hours in four days. That’s not including the 1.5 hours she’s in the car each day. She usually doesn’t get a chance to eat lunch or even drink much water. (& she has to dress like a blueberry... I mean, come on). She is so good at what she does that she often forgets how to take care of herself while she’s taking care of her patients.”

The post then went on to say that the photo was actually snapped in July, and that Caty had assisted in the delivery of a stillborn baby.

“This pic is from a night back in July where she came to my house after a particular hard day,” McIntyre wrote. “She delivered a stillborn. Have you guys ever really thought about what a labor and delivery nurse sees? They see great joy in smooth deliveries and healthy moms and babies. They see panic and anxiety when a new mom is scared. They see fear when a stat C-section is called."

"They see peace when the mom has support from her family – [because] not all new moms do. They see teenagers giving birth. They see an addicted mom give birth to a baby who is withdrawing. They see [Child Protective Services] come," she continued. "They see funeral homes come. Did you know that they have to make arrangements for the funeral home to come pick up the baby? I didn’t either.”

“Caty (& all other nurses) – you are SPECIAL. You bless your patients and their families more than you will ever know,” McIntyre wrote. “Thank you for all that you do.”

McIntyre’s post, which has been shared more than 96,000 times to date, also racked up thousands of comments, with many relaying their own special experiences with nurses.

“Nurses are beyond amazing people! They are angels on earth,” one commenter, Katie Burns, wrote.

“Thank you for being so strong and brave for people during what should be the most amazing time but unfortunately is the most devastating,” another commenter wrote. “You all carry that burden, massive respect for all that you do.”