I was having a perfect pregnancy and never thought I'd be writing this but here I am. I delivered my son 6 weeks early and he ended up in the NICU for 20 days. Being a nurse at WMC, I've toured the unit and praised the nurses that worked there never thinking that I would be a patient there. I must say "Thank You" to all the staff. They are all true angels. But I must give special recognition to Nurse Lynne!

Lynne was our nurse on day 2 of my son's stay and many days afterwards. When we arrived that day, we were greeted with smiles and sympathy. She took time to explain how his night was, how his CPAP would be weaned, the routine of the day (importantly the daily rounds with physicians every day at 9am), and what to expect. Holding our son was the highlight of me and husband's day. She never questioned if we wanted to hold him, but always took time to get him in our arms. That would be tasky some days due to all of the equipment that he had on, but she never let that deter us holding him. She explained the importance of kangaroo time and never neglected him of the chance even if she was busy. She even updated the white board with, "I love kangaroo time with mommy and daddy." We became very comfortable with her very quickly.

She encouraged me with my efforts with breastfeeding as well. I would take colostrum in daily and she would always praise me for the 3 drops to 15 mls I was able to get. I would think it was worthless but she insisted that it was gold for my son. She never missed a feed where she didn't allow him to smell and taste it even though he was unable to eat by mouth and being feed via NGT. Lynne always treated my son as her own but also took care of us as the parents and always made us feel welcome and a part of the treatment plan (letting us comfort him, change his diapers, check his temperature, change his sat. probe position, and more). Every day she would always come in and ask us how we were doing. About day 5-7, I replied, "we had a hard day yesterday." A lot of times nurses will just shrug that off, but Lynne immediately stopped what she was doing and pulled up a chair and looked me in the eye and asked what was wrong. She took the time to listen to me and attempt to ease my concerns. We thought that our baby was coming home and we were let down once we found out that he didn't understand how to eat yet. I was attempting to breastfeed, and I thought he was eating but he wasn't. She continued to encourage me every day that he would eventually get the hang of it. To keep attempting it and they would bolus feed him as needed. I was also concerned about the cost of his NICU stay, insurance and the health of my son which she also talked to me about. She also kept us up-to date as far as what was needed in order to get him discharged.

My husband spent his birthday in the NICU with our son (around day 14 of our stay). We left to go home in between feeds in which she took pictures of our son. When we came back, she brought us in 2 pieces of pie/cake that she bought for us in the cafeteria in celebration of his birthday. That made us both love her even more. Just the mere thought was priceless. After her shift ended at 7pm I noticed that she was still around. Around 9:45pm she came in and said, "Here you go daddy." She handed him a birthday card that she made from our son. It had 2 pictures of him with a message inside and it had his current weight for that day on it (his weight was something that was important to us because he was having trouble gaining weight). She spent extra time there off of the clock to make this card for him even though she was coming back the next morning at 6:45am. This will forever be with us. Her kindness that day made a dreaded day special for my husband.

Nurse Lynne played a vital role in my son's growth. She was there multiple times as his nurse. She responded to every alarm in a timely manner and always took action when needed. She took time to bring in the NICU book and go over it. She took time to review most of the education with us that was needed before discharge. If I ever had a question she was there to answer it. And most of all, she encouraged us daily to keep our heads up, that things would get better. She was an angel to us and our son and I look forward to seeing her during the yearly reunions. I can't wait for Colton to meet her in a couple years where I will introduce her to him as his "Angel!"