As I prepared to have my second child on the family center at Blue Ridge I could have never imagined how our experience would have unfolded. Without sounding to dramatic, although in reflection the birth of a child is, I could not have made it through without the support, reassurance, and clinical expertise of Sarah.

I arrived to the Family Center later in the evening for a planned induction. Although the next 12 hours progressed slowly, I felt calm and cared for by the team on the family center. Everything was going according to plan. Labor crept along the following day and escalated quickly after my water broke. Sarah was with me all day; her patience and compassionate demeanor carried me through. She kept me distracted by sharing more about herself which I invited and enjoyed. I learned that she went to nursing school later in life after pursuing another career because she enjoyed taking care of mothers so much. I learned that she also had a child named G, and as we shared the name of our soon-to-be arrival, L, I learned that she also had a child named L, this was nothing short of divine intervention. She could have never known in those moments, after just losing my own mother a month prior, how much these small moments meant to me and my husband.

Sarah was exactly who you would want taking care of you, especially as her astute clinical skills kicked in. She realized after close monitoring, adjusting, and conferring with the team that baby’s heart rate was decreasing as he was progressing down the birth canal. As a result of Sarah’s proactive clinical decision making (and yhr doctor), the awesome team on the family center had me in the c-section suite within 20 minutes. I later learned that Sarah stayed after her shift to explain to my husband what was going to happen before he joined me in the OR suite, as well as made arrangements to get his dinner. As we exited the c-section suite, after 45 minutes and the birth of our son there was Sarah. She had waited to see how we all did prior to leaving for the evening. I also learned that our “miracle baby” as dubbed by the team had a knot in his umbilical cord (something the team had rarely seen) and that Sarah’s and the team's quick assessment and intervention had allowed L to be born safe and healthy.

The next 24 hours were filled with a lot of emotion but was comforted with the knowledge that Sarah would continue to be our nurse on the day of discharge. At UNC Health Blue Ridge we have wonderful, caring, professionals. I got to experience first-hand, and in action, our motto of “friends and neighbors taking care of friends and neighbors”. During the COVID pandemic many outside of healthcare identified these individuals as heroes. Having the unique and distinct honor to work alongside these professionals for almost 10 years I already knew that to be true by the nature of what they do day in and day out; however, as Sarah wheeled us out on discharge day and loaded us into the car, I could have sworn that I saw a cape tucked into her scrubs. Thank you for being my superhero Sarah.