I've always referred to the mother baby staff as a family, but that means I have no good way then to describe the comradery and connection that our night shift girls have created. We have our moms, our big siblings, and our younger siblings, all of which together create our tight knit group that makes each night just that much easier to come to work.

So first off, our moms, these are our charge nurses and two techs. These lovely ladies oversee the behind-the-scenes jobs. They keep us organized, make sure we are fed, and give the direction we need to survive. I include our techs in this because they are both actually moms and always refer to us as their kids, and take care of us just as such.

Our charge nurses are who we aspire to be. We look up to them and see them as a resource for our growth. They are never unapproachable, and we can always call when we need them. No problem is too big or too small for them to help with, from a little reassurance that we are doing the right thing to calling in the big guns because a patient is hemorrhaging, and help is needed now! They let us stumble and fall, but are always there to catch us when we need it, but they also aren't afraid to lay down the law and say NO. Our mamas watch us grow and give us the tools we need to survive as nurses.

Our big sisters are around to learn from. Made up of our preceptors and longtime experienced nurses, they've tried it and seen it and lived to tell the tale. Some of them are like the little moms, who are basically helping raise the other kids and some are the older Irish twin that is just that little bit ahead of you. We steal each other's brain sheets like clothes and have been known to cat fight over nursery dates, but when you're in trouble, these are the girls who will bail you out. You call these girls when you think you've made the biggest mistake possible or the most stupid error ever, in my case, accidentally deleting an admission order, and they take a quick second to calm you down and laugh at you, but slide right up to help you fix it. They hold your hand during your first NICU admission and will fight anyone who tries to tear you down. They can be your best friend one minute and your mortal enemy the next, but when it comes down to it, they will always be there for you when times get tough.

The little siblings are the babies of the family, the orientees and students. They are new and interesting and have stories we haven't heard before. You will always be the baby to someone. Having trained many of my coworkers, I still consider them my babies. We take these girls in to show off to all the patients. Giving blood in 2019, take Katherine. Dusky baby in the nursery, Karson come see this. We proudly show them off to whoever will listen, and they are the shiny new playmate to have fun with. They also always get that one thing that's just a little better than you. Your orientation is this, yeah that was because we learned from the last one. Oh, you get few patients if possible so you can really learn time management, yeah that would have been nice. You put up with a lot of attention and some teasing, but you also know each person before you would go to bat if it came down to it.

The best part of this family thought is the way in which you are able to seamlessly glide through each role. You can be a mom one day and a little sibling the next. There is no judgment in growth patterns, and there is excitement in every new adventure. There really isn't the perfect way to explain it because we really are closer than a family. For the big and the small we are there for each other no matter what. Maybe it's a good thing there isn't a word for what we have, because it's so unique and special there isn't anything like it yet. I don't even think all of these words do it justice. I'm just honored to consider myself one of such a fantastic group of women.