On the evening of December 11th, 2014, we welcomed our sweet baby girl, L into the world! Immediately after her arrival, she was rushed to NICU as her lungs were not developed. We were able to briefly see her late that evening and told to go back to our room and get some rest as Lucy needed to rest as well. After a long, terrifying evening of unknowns, we headed straight to the NICU the following morning.

As we made our way to L, we watched as a sweet woman gently and carefully attended to our daughter speaking softly to our baby as she cared for her. That woman had no idea that we were L's parents. Her focus was on our sweet baby girl. Once we arrived at L's side, we were greeted by Cindy.

Cindy fully explained L's medical condition to us. She explained the procedure that had been done the evening before and why it was necessary. She informed us of the type of interaction that we could have with our daughter daily. She answered each and every question that we asked. We discussed the short term goals for L as well as her long term goals that were necessary in order for her to go home. Cindy also took time to explain to each of L's grandparents that visited her progress and the importance of keeping L healthy. This included a variety of topics, from the importance of hand washing to limiting visitors once L was able to go home. Cindy always had L's best interest in mind.

Cindy interacted with L in such a loving manner. She spoke softly to L and was able to calm L when she was upset. One particular time, L ripped out her feeding tube and we watched Cindy gently and carefully put the feeding tube back. In a time that was probably rather frustrating, she calmly took care of L.

Cindy attended to not only L's every need, but ours as well. Over L's week stay in the NICU, my husband and I were fortunate enough to have Cindy care for our daughter five of those days. Each morning, we were greeted by her smile and enthusiasm over the progress that L had made, even if it was minor. She gave advice, suggestions, and was genuinely concerned about our family. She quickly learned about our three-year-old son who was unable to meet his baby sister due to restricted visitors during flu season. She arranged for him to meet L through FaceTime and encouraged us to spend time with our son while she cared for L. We could not have asked for better care for our daughter. Our minds were at ease when Cindy was caring for our daughter.

Cindy felt like another member of our family. For example, the first time I was allowed to hold L, she had talked to my mom to make sure that she had her camera ready to capture that moment. While I was completely surprised that I was going to be able to hold my daughter for the first time, I now have that priceless moment captured. She would let us know in the morning the schedule of the day, when we may be able to hold and eventually feed L so that we could be there, especially for those milestones. She completely understood how valuable the opportunities to help care for Lucy were to us and involved us as much as she could.

Thankfully, after one week in the NICU, L was able to go home! Of course Cindy was the nurse to discharge us. She thoroughly went through the discharge process, paperwork, and overall made sure we were comfortable taking L home. She not only prepared us for this huge move home, she helped us pack our things as well as our baby girl. She gave us advice all the way to our car as she ensured that we were safely on our way.

As we share stories with our closest family and friends, everyone hears of L's amazing nurse, Cindy. We still talk about her, even though we haven't seen her in weeks.

Cindy was an amazing blessing to our family. She will always, always hold a special place in my heart. There is no way we can ever repay Cindy for what she did for our family. We will forever be grateful for Cindy.