Mister Romance by Amelia Simone (the reading list .txt) 📕

I laughed when Gina gave a fist pump of victory. I had no idea she’d be this excited about going shopping together. We rarely hung out when we weren’t in scrubs, so I didn’t think my wardrobe was a big deal.

That night when I got home, I made myself a frozen pizza. The tiny specks of pepperoni looked lost in the sea of gelatinous cheese, but pizza was convenient, if not satisfying. Virginia was probably cooking something delicious for this week’s post. I should try one of those meal prep kits as my next foray into self-improvement. It was sad to live in a perpetual state of dinner envy.

With Virginia in mind, I reviewed her email again and worked on drafting my response. Agreeing to coffee felt like a much bigger step than exchanging comments online, but my dance classes had shown me that I shouldn’t write off new experiences without trying. Giving people a chance to get to know the real me, awkward moments and all. That was called bonding, right?

I was trying to be thoughtful and showcase the aspects of nursing that made me love it. My best grammar was a must. Something about writing to an author made me paranoid. They had editors to make them look good, and I didn’t have that luxury.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Re: Labor & Delivery Questions

Hey Virginia,

I’m happy to help. Here are my answers. I’d love to get coffee and discuss any follow ups.

What are your hospital’s shifts?

Some hospitals use rotating twelve-hour shifts. Mine has a combination of eight, ten, or twelve-hour shifts depending on the department. I work second shift at Sacred Heart in Tacoma which for us is an eight-hour day, which starts in the afternoon. My schedule is pretty predictable, and my seniority means I have weekends off. A lot of deliveries happen on my shift, but most babies arrive during the first shift. Believe it or not, most babies are born right around 8:00 a.m. We’ve got our own rush hour.

What are the standard job roles?

RNs (Registered Nurses) help manage the delivery process and care for our patients. We monitor the stages of delivery and get the doctor when mother is ready to deliver.

OBGYN (Obstetrician Gynecologists) Doctors, Midwives, or Laborists help with the actual delivery. They’re usually calling the shots and catching the babies at the end. RNs handle the infant cleanup and APGAR scoring while the docs wrap up with the mothers, delivering afterbirth and suturing if needed.

Anesthesiologists are the rock stars. Ask them and they’ll agree. The nurses have a pool on the total marriage proposals they get in a given year. Patients are THANKFUL for that pain relief.

CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants) vary by hospital. We have more on shift during the busiest times, typically first shift. Assistants help us with stocking and communicating with family in the waiting room.

What do you love about your job?

When everything goes smoothly and the hospital plays the lullaby over the speakers. It’s our victory lap and a moment to breathe. I also get to see that first moment of bonding, that moment of pure love and wonder between parents and their baby, and it never gets old.

What do you hate about your job?

The heartbreak. Potentially making a mistake that wrecks an entire family.

What are some funny things that happen in the delivery room?

I’ve seen one dad make it all the way through delivery only to pass out when he realized his wife was having twins.

What do people get wrong about what it’s like as a nurse?

That it’s all sunshine and rainbows; some days are tense and scary when we have a high-risk delivery.

What is something you wish people knew about being a nurse?

I’m not a magician, and our focus is health and safety. First-time moms often come in with elaborate birth plans. One memorable mom wanted to burn incense when it came time to push. She was pissed and threatened to shove the incense stick where the sun didn’t shine in a particularly tense moment. My friend on shift teased me about being my own worst enema for weeks. I do my best to provide comfort, but there are some things we can’t allow if they create risk for others. An asthmatic mother laboring in the next room would be put at risk by incense, so it’s against hospital policy. Sometimes nothing goes to plan, and I can only do my best to keep the parents focused on delivering a healthy baby.

What is something you wish people knew about labor and delivery?

I think I answered this one above, but I’ll let you know if I think of something more.

Hopefully that answers some of your questions. I hope I’ve done it justice. Let me know if you want to meet up for more clarification. Also, I’m dying to ask, and I haven’t seen any teasers online. For your next book, is Nate finally getting his own story?

T

I read over my email what felt like ten times before saving it as a final draft. I couldn’t resist sneaking in a question about Nate’s character. Hopefully, Virginia wouldn’t mind my prying. His story was on my ‘most wanted’ list. I’d sleep on my draft, then send her my response before the weekend. Maybe my nerves would be calmer if I looked at it with fresh eyes in the morning.

TRYING TO RECREATE Virginia’s latest recipe and taking my second pole dancing class were part of my strategy to avoid obsessing over the email I finally sent to Virginia. She hadn’t responded yet. Distracting myself with food and dance seemed like a good way to avoid fixating over what I’d shared. Too much? Too little? Having a small role in helping create the books I loved had me itching to read what she wrote, and even I knew that took time. Focusing on my successes in dance class, making progress on my goals, helped ease the ache of waiting.

I checked my Twitter feed after a