Family can be defined as a group of individuals under one roof, a group of people united by certain convictions or common affiliations. Tower 4-Maternity at York Hospital, York, PA, is definitely a family.

We recently expanded our family to include one of our patients, an extended stay antepartum patient (4 weeks) with extreme complications with her placenta. Before she was admitted she was living at a local shelter for women.

Celebrating Life

Having a baby is a celebration and we wanted to help her experience that joy. A few of us decided to have a surprise baby shower for our newest family member. We sent e-mails inviting the whole staff; several staff members volunteered to bring food.

Our biggest challenge was getting the patient to the shower without spilling the beans. Our original plan was to tell her she had a scheduled sonogram. However, we wanted her to get dressed and a sonogram wasn't a reason to give up her fashionable hospital gown.

So, I was elected to "lie" to my patient. She totally bought a story about having a conference with all the caregivers regarding her scheduled c-section.

Throughout the day she even came up with questions to ask during the conference. We all managed to keep a straight face. We decorated the maternity conference room, assembled the food, gathered staff. Show time!

Surprise!

The patient was dressed and ready to go. Off we went pushing her wheelchair.

When we got to the maternity conference room, I told her I had to pick up something to take to the conference. I opened the door, wheeled her in and everyone yelled "surprise." She was shocked!

It was a beautiful shower. The baby will not want for anything for a long time. The maternity family rallied around this "new" family member.

Four days later our patient delivered a healthy baby boy. A short 4 days after delivery mother and baby left our unit for home.

Hopefully the patient will think of us as family, look back fondly on the pictures from the shower and share those feelings with her beautiful son. Our goal was to have her deliver without complications and make her feel special. Mission accomplished!

- Sharon Hoko BSN, RN