Kat Vergara Kruczynski, RN, is a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she works on the Labor & Delivery floor.

She and her partner Chris delivered their son with the Mass General Midwifery Service.

Q: Why did you choose the Mass General Midwifery Service?

A: I chose the Mass General Midwifery Service for my prenatal care because I wanted to be seen as a partner in my pregnancy care. The midwives create a partnership with their patients and their families, so both my partner and I were included in teachings, testing outcomes and all other aspects of care.

Rather than feeling like we were along for the ride, we felt as though our role played an integral part in fostering a healthy pregnancy. I am confident that this relationship was created by an incredible group of caring nurse-midwives, and this is such a unique feature of care at Mass General.

Q: How did you feel about your experience?

A: I cannot find enough words to express my joy and gratitude for the tremendous care we received with the midwives at Mass General. Having the opportunity to be on the other side of the patient-clinician relationship is humbling to say the least.

As a labor and delivery nurse, I have watched inductions of labor tick by for days, slowly thinking perhaps a vaginal delivery is not going to work for this patient. And sadly by day 2.5 of my delivery, I started to become more and more anxious over whether a vaginal delivery was in the cards for me.

Having nurse-midwife care made all the difference. Not only did my amazing team of midwives never waiver in their faith, but they empowered me. They created a feeling of solidarity which gave me the strength to continue and persevere. Through their holistic care, they helped me to achieve a beautiful and safe vaginal delivery for my son.

Q: Was there any moment of your birth experience that stands out?

A: The midwives supported me emotionally through all the challenges of birth. They also supported me clinically by understanding what I needed and what I didn’t need throughout my labor course. When the time finally came to meet our son, our midwife Mary Trabulsi, CNM, MS, engaged my husband’s assistance, and the three of us were able to deliver him onto my chest.

Reflecting on the early moments when I met my son will always be warmed by the memory of the midwife team who got us there.

Read more patient stories from the Midwifery Service.