At 2:30 in the morning, my wife and I took our freshly born baby into the Mother-Baby unit at Advocate Illinois Masonic after being in the hospital laboring for 84 hours, exhausted, excited, and incredibly anxious. As first-time parents, we were so in love but pretty terrified about the next step which is caring for and supporting our newborn baby.

Rounding into 3 am Lindsey, our nurse, met us in the room and despite all the emotions my wife and I are still impacted moved and retaining the amazing education and support she provided as she welcomed us to Mother-Baby. Patients struggle to retain patient education on a normal day but on this day we were beyond sleep deprived. Yet with humor, patience, and an incredibly engaging and personalized touch, Lindsey started equipping us with the essential tools to take care of and love our baby. How to diaper, swaddle, what to watch for, and how the next few days would look. She took extra time to answer every question and thoroughly gave us the confidence that we could do this. She also gave us the confidence that if for some reason we couldn't do "this" at the moment that she would be there immediately at the push of a button to help and support us. We still remember the swaddle style she taught, the tips she gave, and how she somehow managed to calm us down and allow us to focus on our newborn baby.

We had Lindsey the second night we were in Mother-Baby as well. It was there we learned that despite our assumption that she was born to be a Mother-Baby nurse and equip families with a soft landing to start this new journey that she had actually only been a nurse for a few months and technically was "new". We were floored. Lindsey set the model for valuing the emotional needs of her patients/families. She weaved together essential patient education in such an engaging and caring way that we felt supported and that we retained the majority of her education to this day.

Sometimes you observe someone who really uses their strengths and it just seems they were born to fulfill that role. Lindsey pursued nursing as a 2nd career and this family sure is glad she did. Mother-Baby nurses have a unique role. They usher new souls into this world every day and their patient is equal parts baby and family. We're so grateful that Lindsey brings her skilled unique passion to the job and she stood out as going beyond the requirements and really bringing her special skills to a first-time family that really made our experience of ushering this new soul into the world an amazing moment.