Chelsea McNeil
Labour & Delivery Nurse, Mother, Daughter, Friend, Human
When I was 15, my youth pastor invited me to join him at the hospital. “I have a feeling that you’ll be interested in this”, he said to me. Growing up, I babysat his three children, and now his wife was about to have their fourth. So I came with him, not really knowing what to expect. And then everything went wrong. It was a hugely complicated birth. The situation was well beyond what our small Powell River hospital was prepared to handle. Everything felt so frantic. But through it all, the delivery nurse was this ultimate peace in the room, leading them through the whole process with grace. My youth pastor was right—I was interested—so with new inspiration, I set out on a path towards nursing.
I began my career in orthopedic rehab, later moving to orthopedic trauma, and even doing a stint in a long-term care facility in Cape Breton; but I always had my eye on labour and delivery, where my passion for nursing first began. Six years ago, a position opened at Victoria General Hospital, and I joined their L&D team, following my dream and passion.
“The delivery nurse was this ultimate peace in the room, leading them through the whole process with grace”
“It’s like a family, supporting other families”
“Every day is a birthday”, that’s what our sweaters say. Each and every shift, I get to come alongside families in one of the most significant times in their lives, helping to provide some peace and stability in situations that are enough to really rock people’s boats. What makes my work even more special is doing it alongside such a supportive team. Everyone relies on each other in quite a parallel sense, all just working together for a healthy mama and a healthy baby. It’s like a family, supporting other families.
We’ve made so many memories together, but my absolute favourite experience on the Labour & Delivery unit was giving birth to my own son there. I felt like I was having a home birth at the hospital. People were very excited—I had visitors non-stop—but the whole time it was just so comfortable (In terms of my experience with the team that is. The delivery experience itself has given me a new appreciation for the labours of childbirth). To see my co-workers in action and experience that kind of care from the opposite perspective was really cool.
My son Owen is now three, and he’s a bundle of energy. Being a single parent, it can be challenging doing shift work; but I’m so glad that nursing provides enough stability for me to keep doing my job and still be there a lot for my son. I have a village around me to help me along the way. Many of my friends have young children or are pregnant themselves, and I get to be involved a lot with that; so my life is a flurry of teeny tiny humans, and Owen has more aunties than he knows what to do with.
In motherhood, in work, in life, perspective make all the difference. Some days are really hard for me because I’ll be taking care of Owen and get absolutely nothing done; but I spend the whole day with him at the park, and that could have been the best day of his life. The perspective I choose matters. Whenever I start a shift, whether I feel like being there that day or not, I just tell myself I’m here today for a purpose. In the midst of our own human experience, we get moments to share in the experience of others as well. We get to love, we get to hurt, to grieve with people, and be excited with them. We get to come alongside as a comforting voice or a peaceful presence, and maybe even inspire someone else—just as we were inspired before. We get to experience the good and the bad, and all the feelings that come with it; and we get to take all that away for better perspective the next time.
Nursing is one of the most unpredictable, wonderful, terrible, intriguing journeys that I think I could have put my life onto. And I’m just so grateful that I chose this path.
“I just tell myself I’m here today for a purpose“
They are humans first, who put other humans first.
More than 8,900 caregivers and staff work around the clock in our Victoria Hospitals
#HumansFirst is dedicated to sharing the stories from behind our hospitals’ frontlines. These stories remind us that those who provide care and keep the lights on in our hospitals also have lives outside of them. They have family and friends, they enjoy hobbies and interests, and they have all lived through their own personal triumphs and heartbreaks. Like all of us, they are human, and they have a story to tell.
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