Neresa was one of the first church members to visit our firstborn, Eric. Since she worked at the same hospital where I delivered both boys, she was able to take a break and come and see me. There's a picture of her feeding Eric a bottle. Eric would not eat much and she said, "Nonsense! Babies must eat. I will feed him!" I love that picture!
When our second son David was about seven months old, I noticed he looked pale. Like really, really pale! I mentioned it to my husband Brandon but he couldn't see it. It kept bothering me because to me, the baby was very pale. Since I would take both boys to choir practice, Neresa, who was sitting next to me in the alto section, would cuddle him and sometimes hold him. That Sabbath, she turned to me suddenly and said, "Your baby is pale!" "Thank you! I think so too!" I replied. She kept questioning me on how David was eating, sleeping, acting, etc. You know, normal things nurses ask patients. She insisted I make an appointment and trust my instincts.
I made an appointment with the pediatrician and my husband had to take him by himself because I couldn't leave work at that time. Our baby's behavior had not changed in any way, nor had his eating habits. Neither the doctor, nor my husband noticed that our son was pale. But since I was insisting and the doctor wanted to appease me, he decided to run blood work. He checked the results and requested that the tests be run again. After he checked the results for a second time, he returned to the exam room and instructed Brandon to take David immediately to a blood specialist. Well, David had a weird anemia that took several weeks to clear. The specialist told us later that if his white and red blood cell counts had not increased in one week, he had planned to hospitalize David. Fortunately, it was a one-time thing and he has been fine ever since.
When I updated Neresa, she thought the doctor had been foolish to not have noticed. She pointed out that David's lips, instead of the normal pink color he should have as a baby, were pale in color. I finally felt validated because I kept questioning myself, wondering if I was just being "hysterical." As a fellow nurse, she believed me when I felt something was wrong with our son, even when I couldn't quite put my finger on what was making him so pale. I will always be grateful that she gave me support during that scary time!