Knock Knock – A Day in the Life of Mercy’s RN

Today I have asked Christy Tullos, the Registered Nurse at our Nashville home, to share with you from her perspective how God has been able to use her medical training to serve at Mercy Ministries..

So, I was asked to give you a glimpse of the world of Mercy through my eyes. I’m the Director of Medical Services in Nashville...the registered nurse on staff from day to day. My Mercy journey began in 2006, after eight years of working in labor and delivery. What a change it was to go from the land of pre-term labors, complicated pregnancies, cesarean sections, hours of pushing, and babies being born, to the contrast of the world of Mercy with forty precious girls under my nursing care – some who are pregnant and many who are not!

I am often asked what exactly I do from day to day in the Nashville home. There are a myriad of tasks that keep my job interesting. There are multiple knocks on my door each day that require different interventions:

Knock one: “I need a band-aid.” Knock two: “I just threw up. I have a stomach bug. I’ve never been away from my mom.” Knock three: “Can I take my breakfast medication at noon so I can avoid the long lines?” Knock four: “I’m having contractions.” Knock five: “I want to lower my medications. Can I see a doctor?” Knock six: “I think I might faint.” Knock seven: “I need refills on all my meds.”

The knocks go on and on and there are 100 other examples. Each is an opportunity to assess, encourage, show love, make decisions and determine the best course for care in each moment. I have the opportunity to set up all doctor’s appointments for our girls and to accompany them to many of these appointments. I cherish these times, as they are moments one on one with each of these girls to better know their stories, what brought them to Mercy and how God is working in their lives, sometimes even as soon as their first few days with us.

Some of my favorite doctor visits are those with the pregnant girls for prenatal care and the twenty-week ultrasound. Ultrasounds had become a bit mundane in all my time in labor and delivery. However, I never tire of sitting with a Mercy girl as she sees her twenty-week baby, often for the first time, on ultrasound. Her eyes light up and tears often come as she sees the fragile parts so perfectly pieced together. She connects all the fluttering and movement within her to the pictures of life on this screen. And plans for this life begin to emerge.

I have had the awesome opportunity to be present in the delivery room with many of the pregnant girls. What a privilege to be more than just the delivery room nurse, knowing her only a few hours, as I had done hundreds of times before in nursing. What a privilege to know the story behind the story…how God had met her on this journey and worked in the many details of her pregnancy and decision-making process. What a privilege to watch it all unfold….to watch that baby come after hours of difficult labor…to hear the first cries….to watch her take the baby in her arms after 9 long months of prayer filled moments. And what a privilege to see her either plan to parent that precious child or lovingly place him into the arms of a carefully chosen couple, now blessed beyond measure at the brave choice this mother made.

No matter the situation, it is always amazing to see God’s hand at work….to see God in each detail concerning every girl that is willing to allow Him in. The transformed lives are what touch me the most from day to day. It is a blessing to be able to give nursing care, but I see the ultimate care being given from a loving God that takes these fragile, wounded hearts and makes them whole again, time after time.