Marie was the first nurse I got to meet when my daughter was born; she was born with Oesophageal Atresia and would need multiple surgeries when she was born. A nurse from the antenatal ward wheelchaired me to the neonatal unit the morning after my daughter was born and she greeted me. I still to this day remember exactly what she said, "I'm looking after M today," and she went through all the wires that were attached to her explained everything to me, made me feel less anxious straightaway. It was the most daunting experience knowing your baby would be spending weeks/months in neonatal waiting for surgeries, and on the same day, I got quite unwell and lost consciousness for a couple of minutes after feeling faint.
Marie literally held me up in the wheelchair and got one of the nurses to take me back to the ward I was staying on at the time; she rang the ward later on that afternoon to make sure I was ok and every day since then while M was on the Neonatal Unit she had my back the whole time always asking how I was and my dad who was my allocated visitor as I was a single parent. She always came and checked on M and she made me laugh so much every day; when I just wanted to break down and cry she made the whole experience of having a baby on the neonatal ward so much less daunting and made me feel so much better knowing M has nurses looking after her who adored her just as much as I did. It was the most heart-warming experience. I will never forget the care and love they all showed to me and M.