{"id":1310176,"date":"2019-05-11T21:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-12T03:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sunday-profile-from-the-local-birthplace-to-the-home-front-courtney-pollard-is-all-around-mom\/"},"modified":"2019-05-11T21:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T03:40:00","slug":"sunday-profile-from-the-local-birthplace-to-the-home-front-courtney-pollard-is-all-around-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/sunday-profile-from-the-local-birthplace-to-the-home-front-courtney-pollard-is-all-around-mom\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday profile: From the local birthplace to the home front, Courtney Pollard is all-around mom"},"content":{"rendered":"
Valley View Hospital nurse Courtney Pollard and her daughter Landry spend time together near the nursery at the Family Birthplace on Thursday morning.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Working as an obstetrics and neonatal intensive care unit nurse in Valley View Hospital\u2019s Family Birthplace, Courtney Pollard has seen it all, literally.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old who assists doctors and midwives in the labor room, over the course of her 10 years at Valley View Hospital, has helped hundreds of mothers bring their newborns into the world.<\/p>\n

At times, however, Pollard also finds herself assisting enthusiastic fathers attempting to stomach the sights and sounds that accompany childbirth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to keep an eye on the dads,\u201d Pollard laughed. \u201cWe definitely tell them that, if they are starting to feel lightheaded or dizzy, to sit down because we don\u2019t want them to become our patient as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollard recalled one instance where an excited, soon-to-be dad emulated his wife\u2019s breathing patterns as she was pushing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had to step away into the bathroom,\u201d Pollard said of the first-time father who ended up on the floor shirtless next to the toilet. \u201cHe was still telling his wife, though, \u2018good job honey you can do it,\u2019 before crawling back out of the bathroom to her bedside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to remind dads a lot, don\u2019t hold your breath with mom,\u201d Pollard said.<\/p>\n

For her, though, it was just another day in the delivery room.<\/p>\n

valley view quintet<\/p>\n

A graduate of the University of Wyoming, Pollard and her husband, as well as their 6-month-, 2-year- and 5-year-old daughters, all were born at Valley View Hospital.<\/p>\n

Valley View, on average, delivers 50 to 60 babies a month.<\/p>\n

In addition to her duties in the labor room, Pollard also works in Valley View\u2019s Newborn Intensive Care Nursery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be tough at times,\u201d Pollard described of the transition from the labor room to the Newborn Intensive Care Nursery. \u201cThings just don\u2019t go right all of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Difficult cases where Pollard finds herself working carefully alongside doctors and nurses to save a mother or baby\u2019s life, always take a toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they come back to visit us and they are healthy and happy\u2026 those days are always emotional,\u201d Pollard said. \u201cThose moments are always really moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

the best reward<\/p>\n

However, the most moving job for Pollard remains being a mother herself.<\/p>\n

Not an easy responsibility, especially after a 12-hour shift, the calm and collected Pollard also considers being a mother her most rewarding job.<\/p>\n

Although not at an age where they can fully understand exactly what their mother does at Valley View, one of her children still asks one work-related question regularly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy five-year-old always wants to know if we had any babies that day and what their names are,\u201d Pollard said. \u201cFor the most part, that is what they understand, that I help moms and babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her studies and 10-plus years on the front lines of childbirth, Pollard discussed how being a mother of three has helped her hone her skills as a nurse working in the labor and delivery rooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped me be able to relate to my patients,\u201d Pollard said.<\/p>\n

When Pollard began her career she was not a mother herself, at least not yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter having children and having been through labor and that experience I feel that I have more depth of knowledge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

always a surprise<\/p>\n

Whether assisting a doctor or midwife helping a birthing mother, or coaching an excited soon-to-be father how to breathe properly as their baby makes its debut appearance in the world, the job certainly keeps Pollard on her toes.<\/p>\n

Calling her work \u201cthe happier side of medicine,\u201d Pollard recounted one instance when a mother received surprising news following the birth of what she thought was her fourth son.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the baby was born it actually ended up being a little baby girl,\u201d Pollard said of the unexpected twist.<\/p>\n

Because of the baby\u2019s unrevealing position during its ultrasounds, although a rare occurrence, while the doctors believed it was a boy they could not say with certainty. When the baby arrived, however, so did that certainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe screamed out with excitement, because she was going to have a daughter,\u201d Pollard said.<\/p>\n

With Sunday being Mother\u2019s Day, the obstetrics and neonatal intensive care unit nurse had a message for all of the moms out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s a tough job,\u201d Pollard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are made for the child that we have, and thanks for all that you do because raising up our kids is one of the most important jobs there is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valley View Hospital nurse Courtney Pollard and her daughter Landry spend time together near the nursery at the Family Birthplace on Thursday morning.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Working as an obstetrics and neonatal intensive care unit nurse in Valley View Hospital\u2019s Family Birthplace, Courtney Pollard has seen it all, literally. The 36-year-old who assists doctors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1310176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 06:28:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}