Hello, my name is Kimberly Kight and I have been in women's and infant’s health care, in one form or another, for almost 20 years. I began my journey as a postpartum nurse who after only one year transitioned into working in labor and delivery. I spent the majority of my time as a labor and delivery nurse in a high risk environment. I worked intensively with many sick pregnant women in a hospital
where even women who did not experience additional complications were being over treated and over medicated, often resulting in women being given no voice or choice as to what their treatment plan could look like. After these women’s babies were delivered, their infants were taken to a transition nursery where the mothers could not follow. These infants spent less than 30 minutes in the delivery room where the mother was not even given a chance to breast-feed. I was so distraught at the fact that women were given so little choice as to what was happening with their bodies and their children. I knew there had to be a better option than what these women were experiencing. In 2000, I moved to Albuquerque New Mexico where I had the opportunity to see a vastly different side of the birthing experience. I worked in a hospital alongside certified nurse midwifes who approached child birth with a more mom friendly mindset. Midwives managed the majority of the labors here and "caught" their babies as opposed to delivering them. They respected the mother’s desires and the birth process she had envisioned for herself. Seeing the care the midwives took in treating each individual woman ignited a desire in myself to strive to the same measures of respect and dignity these woman were able to give mothers. Seeing these midwives in action reminded me of my own aspirations of becoming a midwife someday. Before 2000 I knew what a midwife was, I had a midwife with the delivery of two of my three children, I also had limited experience working with Certified Nurse Midwives as a labor and delivery nurse before moving to Albuquerque, but it was not until I worked in New Mexico that I truly knew what the spirit of Midwifery was and this is what I had always been called to do. If you would have told me when I graduated high school that I would become a health care professional I would have laughed in your face and told you how crazy you were. I got sick at the sight of blood (people who knew me can attest to this.) I was still concerned with woman’s issues, but mostly in the context of how tall you could tease bangs into becoming and what looked best with acid washed jeans. Fast forward to the end of my freshman year at Purdue University. One Saturday in April during parent’s weekend I was walking on campus with my mother when she informed me that her Lymphoma was no longer in remission. The next year was spent with my mother in and out of the hospital but mostly in. Multiple surgeries, chemo treatments, blood transfusions (still got sick at sight of blood) etc. During this time I found out that there was A LOT more to nursing then giving shots and changing bed pans. In addition to making sure my mother was taken care of the nurses worked at trying to heal the whole family. They helped educated us about treatments and options we had to combat my mother’s illness as well as taking the time to make sure we understood all of the medical jargon the doctor was throwing our way, something that often gets overlooked in process of treating a patient. They held hands in time of need and celebrated in times of joy. When my first son was born I remember the nurses banning together to throw my mother the most lavish “Welcome to Being a Grandmother” party any hospital has ever seen. They did not just share their skill with my mother but they shared their spirit with her, myself and the rest of my family. My mother’s nurses took one of the worst times in my life, the death of my mother, and made it bearable. I decided, that in order to honor my mother, I would become a nurse. If I could touch just one family the way my mother’s nurses were able to help me and my family in our time of need then it would all be worth it. I have always been a strong believer in the idea that women deserve better treatment and a stronger hand when it comes to their health care, especially when this care pertains to pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Midwifery is the way I honor my fellow nurses, women, and especially the memory of my own mother. It is my philosophy to treat every client the way I would want my mother, daughter, and myself to be treated.
