My son was born somewhat urgently due to the cord wrapped around his neck. While the birthing process went smoothly, we encountered an issue later in the morning. Nicki came in to run a set of vitals and noticed the thermometer was running a little low. As I have seen this be an issue with thermometers we use, I wrote it off as an equipment malfunction. Nicki didn't accept this possibility. She immediately felt that something was off.
Through her intuition and knowledge base, she felt it was prudent to take our son to the nursery to check him out further. Within seconds he was in the nursery, she was checking blood sugar levels, temperature, and had the urgent response team filling the room. The whole time, he had her undivided attention. Through this, Nicki kept giving me information regarding his status and kept a level head. He ended up needing to stay in the NICU for 2 weeks.
Initially, he was thought to have Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia. This eventually came back as a negative, and the cause of his ailments is still unknown. The first day he was there, my wife had to stay bedridden. Nicki was kind enough to move her from a shared room so she could get through her grief without muting herself due to the others in the room, as well as provide feedback to her while she was isolated from me and my son.
After we were discharged, while his mother and I were trading off visits (due to COVID visitor guidelines), Nicki managed to check on him and us! Her job wasn't finished until she knew we were all well. This was easily the hardest time in all three of our lives, and she was a guiding light to help us get through. Without her intuition and quick actions, there is a very real chance that our son would not be with us today. My family is eternally grateful for Nicki, the NICU team, and all of the nurses and doctors that helped our son through his first weeks of life.
Thank you so very much, Nicki.