There have been plenty of good days for Bridget Straedey, an obstetrics nurse at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville, Missouri.

One stands out.

"I actually got to be the nurse who cared for my youngest daughter when she had her baby, and that was a special moment — to be there not just as her mom but as her nurse, being able to be the nurse to your daughter and seeing your granddaughter brought into the world. Yeah, that was one of the good moments," she said.

Straedey is nearing 40 years as a nurse, a career field she hadn't really considered until she graduated high school in Chester, Illinois.

"It wasn't that I thought I would be a nurse early on. It was something my mom suggested," the Jackson resident explained. "She thought it would be good to go to nursing school."

Bridget Straedey, then-Kress, studied nursing at St. Luke's East Hospital in St. Louis. She found the three-year program fun and a good foundation for her career.Rick Fahr

And so off to St. Louis it was.

Education

Straedey's initial nursing education spanned three years at a hospital-based school in St. Louis, St. Luke's East Hospital.

She had accepted a $1,000-per-year scholarship to attend the program from an auxiliary organization of Chester Memorial Hospital. In exchange for each $1,000, she agreed to work at the hospital for one year.

The program suited her well, she found.

Bridget Straedey, then-Kress, as pictured in a yearbook from a St. Louis nursing program. In exchange for an annual $1,000 scholarship, Straedey agreed to serve one year at Chester (Illinois) Memorial Hospital. She then worked at a Cape Girardeau Hospital and has worked at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville, Missouri, for nearly 18 years.Rick Fahr

"It was a lot of tun. I had just come out of high school. I didn't really find it hard," Straedey said. "In a dorm full of girls your own age, it was just a lot of fun."

She praised the program's focus on hospital experience, with the students studying a particular skill one week and practicing it in the hospital the next.

After completing the program, she returned to Chester, where she worked as a nurse in various capacities — medical surgery, intensive care and obstetrics, among others.

"Working in a small hospital, you have an opportunity to do a lot of things and sometimes all within the same week. So you learn a lot," she said.

She moved to Jackson and briefly worked at a Cape Girardeau hospital, but she found she enjoyed the small-hospital environment.

"You have more time to work with your patients," she commented.

She soon accepted a position at Perry County Memorial and has worked there for nearly 18 years.

Obstetrics

For the past decade, Straedey has focused on obstetrics, helping women give birth and caring for the newborns.

"I enjoy bringing new life into the world. Most people can't remember what they got for Christmas three years ago, but you ask any woman, and she can tell you about the day her baby was born," she explained. "I always thing about a woman's birth story like a man's fish story — it gets bigger every year. Women want to tell each other their story, and if I have an opportunity to make that an even more special day, that's my goal. ... It gives me incredible joy to be that person that can help others."

Straedey said as she has progressed through her career she has found the quality time she can spend with new mothers and their children has replaced adrenalin-laced excitement as her favorite part of the work.

"To have the time to go spend with each patient, to me, is better. ... The quality time is better than all that when I was young," she suggested.

Obstetrics nurses fill several roles, Straedey noted — technically skilled medical care provider, educator of new mothers and emotional support rock.

"For most women, it's the very best day of their life, but it can also be the very worst," she noted. "In this day and age, women do still have stillbirths. They still have miscarriages. They still have bad outcomes. Even in those situations, just being able to be there for somebody is important."

When things do go wrong, helping the grieving families in whatever manner they need is key, Straedey said. Such situations affect the nurses, too.

"I have found over the years in those situations that you do have feelings, and it's OK to let your patients know that you are sad, too. I think that any of us can imagine what it would be like to lose a child, let along a newborn. We try to give them what they need. People when grieving deal with it differently. ... Most of the time, people remember your compassion, your empathy for what they were going through."

Supporting each other is helpful, she noted.

"The nurses I work with, I find that we talk among ourselves. The fear for anybody is that it could happen to anyone. We are all in different places in our walk," she said. "Most

Straedey relies on her faith to help her in difficult times.

"I feel like there is also a spiritual aspect for me. I have a strong relationship with God, and I feel like this is the place He has put me in my life," she said.

Advice for new nurses

Straedey noted the past couple COVID-dominated years have been difficult for the nursing community, though the pandemic has raised awareness of what nurses do and how important they are to health care. She said the pandemic has likely led some people to shy away from a nursing career.

Another aspect of the profession that makes it less appealing to some involves long hours and work on weekends and holidays. Straedey works three 12-hour shifts each week, with a weekend shift every third week. She noted, though, some types of nursing jobs, such as those in schools and larger manufacturing facilities, offer more friendly work schedules.

Nursing isn't for everyone, she said.

"Go into nursing if you have the heart to do it. Make sure that you have a heart to care for people and know that you are not always going to have the best hours, but if you can get over yourself and over that idea of, 'this is what I am missing ...' I look at it this way — Christmas can be any day we make it here for our kids and grandkids," she commented.

Straedey said continuing education and keeping up to date on the latest technology and procedures keeps her skills honed and that helps patients feel safe when facing an uncertain circumstance.

Nursing is uncertain, too, she finished.

"The way that I embrace life is that every day is a new day, and not knowing, to me, is OK. Go into it with the mindset that it's going to be an adventure."