Baby Nurse On the Set And Off

(Editor’s Note: The following story is about my next door neighbor, Stacy Levendusky. It is the kick-off to a new feature we hope to hve weekly, Know Your Neighbor. Please, if you know someone interesting, or you have a story to tell, let us know. Any Jaspserite can be featured in this space as we are all neighbors in this community.)

Stacy Graham Levendusky and her family–husband, Paul, and daughters, Mikaila and Aleah moved to Jasper County about a decade ago. It still is that make-up but Mikaila has completed college, and works full time at the UGA large animal veterinary clinic, and Aleah is in the last year of her bachelor’s degree.

They happen to be my next door neighbors, so when it comes to meeting your neighbors, it is good to start close to home, although this space is for all my neighbors in Jasper County. I just figured next door was a good place to start. Plus I knew they were interesting people.

They raise horses, with Stacy a long time fan of Arabians, and the girls riding thoroughbreds, which are retired racehorses. Stacy says she’s not much into racing, but the girls love the retired racehorses. They all went to the Kentucky Derby last year and the year before got to see up close some of the finest horse racing there is.

Unfortunately, Stacy says everything is expensive (seats start at about $500; a drink is $16). And, they managed to attend when it was cold and rainy, with the first time being colder, and the second being wetter. And, you’re not allowed to carry anything, including an umbrella, through the gates.

Stacy made their hats, and said she has quite an assortment at home. She loves hat-making. She said for the derby, she started with a basic hat, then added all sorts of items to it to make it stand out.

But, the most interesting thing about Stacy is her job. (That’s why I picked her, plus it gave me a chance to get to know her better.) Stacy is a nurse, a profession she has had for 25 years, and for the last few years it has taken on a new element. She has worked in the neonatal intensive care unit of Piedmont Rockdale Hospital for the last five years, after spending 20 years at Emory Decatur, previously DeKalb General Hospital. Then, she got the call.

They needed a nurse on a movie set. Would she do it? Sure, she replied, not knowing what she was getting into. She was asked to do one episode of a television show, and she thought that would be a day. She said now she knows it takes eight 14 hour days to film one episode of a television series. And, she was there to help out when they filmed a birth scene where the mother was a werewolf, and the father was half vampire and half witch, so the baby was a tribid, which other creatures feared. The show spent five years chasing this child and has now spun off into another show.

There laws governing babies on movie sets are patterned after California law and don’t always fit , but Stacy has helped write rules that could become law. In the meantime, they go by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) guidelines and the laws in place. She is working to improve the law to work better in our state, to protect both the babies and the production

Babies up to six months can only be on set for two hours at a time, and can only be filmed for 20 minutes. Stacy keeps a stopwatch and timer to keep up with it, often keeping up with two babies, usually twins.

For example they might film a scene where the baby is on camera for two minutes, but on the set for 10 minutes. Stacy keeps track of the actual time on scene, as well as time on set. Babies from 15 days old to six months require nurses, and after that there is a child labor coordinator. Stacy is trained in both, and in the show she did last fall, they kept her on even after the baby was older than six months. She has been the nurse for as many as 10 babies at one time.

She said people are very respectful of the babies, and she doesn’t have to flex her muscles very often to make sure they do right. She is more of a coordinator. And, she has gotten so much work, that she has recruited other nurses to work when she can’t. She doesn’t run an agency or get paid to provide nurses, but she knows people who are qualified, and she will recommend them when she isn’t available. All nurses must have CPR certification and NRP which is neonatal resuscitation along with being a registered nurse.

Stacy explained that SAG personnel come around fairly frequently, and some people on set are bothered by them as they check to see that all is going as it should. Stacy says she sees them as her advocate, and she welcomes them.

Stacy said that SAG approves the use of grape, red current and cherry jelly to mimic the look of blood or whatever, but Stacy doesn’t use grape. Strawberry, raspberry and KY jelly are off limits by SAG guidelines. Stacy said she keeps an ample supply of what she needs.

Stacy provides her own baby “kits” to sets so they don’t have to go buy a bunch of stuff. She said she has numerous Pack-N-Plays, as well as a good supply of diapers, baby medicine, wipes, bottles, you name it. She said she has anything they might need, and she will rent the kit to the set for a whopping $10 a day. She stressed that her job is safety, and she is a liaison between the parents and the movie personnel.

She told me that she tries to stay calm no matter what, and rises to the occasion. She has cleaned vomit off actors because the baby she was caring for threw up. She told of the dad who brought his baby and mom had packed the bag. A breast fed baby, there was plenty of milk. Mom forgot the bottles. Stacy said, no fear, I have bottles. She also has pacifiers.

She told of lying in the floorboard of a car tickling a babies feet, trying to get it to react on cue. Likewise, one day she found herself slithering across the ground, again trying to stimulate the baby that was being carried in a car seat across the way.

I was surprised that babies are so prevalent in films and wondered about where they find babies for movie and television scenes. She said its through casting calls, just like any extras are found. She said anyone interested in being an extra in shows, should go on Facebook and enter something like casting calls in Georgia, or narrow down the location. She showed me how many pop up when you do that. She said that’s where most of the babies come from…casting calls through Facebook.

Stacy enjoys what she does, but she said her daughter, Mikaila has her dream job. Stacy loves animals. Besides the five horses currently at the house, she has peacocks, chickens, and doves, as well as a dog and cat, and in the days head may find herself with more farm life. She loves it.