WGNO

Tired nurse goes viral after a hard day

LUBBOCK, Texas (KLBK)— As a labor and delivery nurse, some days are filled with happiness – but some days are difficult and emotional.

One nurse’s picture has gone viral after coming home from one of those difficult days.

Caty Nixon, the nurse in the viral photo and a Texas Tech alumna, said she never knows how it will be.

“At work, I bottle it in for the day so I am there emotional and physically for my patients and their family so when I get home is when I let myself feel it all,” Nixon told KLBK.

After working more than 50 hours in just 4 days, barely getting a break to eat or drink, Nixon said she wasn’t prepared for a stillborn baby.

“We don’t have [them] super often but when they do happen it is horrible and they are never expected,” Nixon said.

Nixon said her husband is a first responder, and he pulls long days at work too.

So, whenever her husband is at work, she goes to her twin sister’s house.

“She plopped down and started crying and I snapped a pic because I wanted to show her kind of what she means to her patients and how much she cares about them rather than me telling her because that doesn’t resonate with her,” said Laura Mcintyre, Nixon’s sister.

In just a few days, the post had been shared over 100,000 times.

“I don’t even have a Facebook so I didn’t even see it that way,” Nixon said. “I saw it on Instagram, but she kept me updated on how many likes it had and I was like ‘what, where is this going.’”

She said the post reminded her why the hard days are worth it.

“When I read it I could not be more grateful for the way she was able to articulate the way I felt that night,” Nixon said. “She was able to put into words my emotions to a T.”