When I married my college sweetheart, my biggest fear was that I wouldn’t be able to give him children. Since I was a teenager, I suffered with fibroid tumors. A few months before our wedding, I underwent an extensive surgery to remove them. Now we just had to wait. One year and a month after we married I became pregnant with our son.
Since I can remember people have always called me “Mama Nikki.” My mother and grandmother said I had an old soul. My husband jokes that I am actually 72 years old. So you can imagine how shocked and confused I was when I didn’t feel an immediate connection to my newborn. I suffered from postpartum depression.
Motherhood depressed me. I felt like I wasn’t the person everyone thought I was. I was embarrassed. I didn’t know what to do. I confided in my mentor, and he told what I needed to hear “Nikki you need to go back to work. You need to help others to help yourself.”
He was right. Four months after having my son, I returned to work part time. I felt renewed. I am a better mother and wife when I work. The flexibility of my job and my renewed sanity allowed me to continue to breastfeed my son, cuddle with my husband and take care of my home. The changes weren’t immediate by any means, but everyone noticed the difference. It is challenging; correction, it is damn hard to balance the love for your child, husband and career.
Nurse Nikki LLC was always a part-time gig. Initially, I only provided CPR classes to medical professionals. After exchanging new mommy stories with tons of college and high school friends in various states, I realized I wasn’t the only one with these thoughts. One year after my experience I wrote a new business plan for Nurse Nikki LLC. Now I provide postpartum home visits to new moms and babies. In addition to providing support for postpartum depression, I assist mothers with breastfeeding, assess lacerations and Cesarean scars and provide basic baby care advice. I also teach family CPR and childbirth education classes. Creating a business that incorporates my passion for nursing and helping mothers is the perfect balance for my family. It’s also my therapy. I absolutely love what I do. I schedule my work around my family and not the other way around.
With the help of New Orleans Moms Blog, Birthmark Doula Collective and SistaMidwife Productions, business is great and growing. I love the momentum.
To make life even more exciting, we got an awesome Christmas gift a few months ago: we are having another baby. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared when I saw those two lines. I was afraid the dark feelings I felt when my son was born would return. My initial thought was to keep working with no maternity leave. But after a long talk with my husband, and an even longer talk with Jesus, I am confident all will be well. As much as I love my job, I love my family more. I need to spend a few months with my new baby. Through my work with the birth community and my faith in God, I have so many more resources at my fingertips. I may not have this thing called motherhood all figured out, but I am growing stronger every day I work at it. I’m not only the Nurse Nikki President, I am also a client.
Nurse Nikki has been a loyal sponsor of New Orleans Moms Blog but did not compensate us for this post.
Nikki Hunter Greenaway
Nikki Hunter Greenaway is the proud mother of an awesome little man named Joseph. She is married to her best friend of 13 years, Jason. A native of Dallas, Nikki has a Bachelor’s in Sociology from Northwestern University Chicago, a Bachelor’s in Nursing from Loyola University Chicago and a Master’s in Nursing from LSU. In addition to being a mom and wife, she is the proud owner of Nurse Nikki LLC. She provides postpartum home visits to new moms and their babies during the first week, 2 weeks and 2 months after delivery. She also teaches private and public CPR classes to families, schools and businesses. She is currently completing her studies to become a certified lactation consultant. If you are interested in services visit her website.
