I nominate these three nurses: Becky Hardwick, Angie Gross and Tammy Gambill, and the entire staff of Maternal Special Care for the DAISY Award for giving exemplary care to this patient as she went through the most difficult event of her life. A was on our unit for weeks and was one of the nicest patients I have ever had the pleasure of caring for. She was thankful for the care she received and for the friendships she made while a patient on Maternal Special Care.

I was the charge nurse on the unit the day A delivered and also the day she was discharged from our unit. She asked me if she could email me after she had some time to process the events that had occurred. Many tears were shed as goodbyes were shared with A and the staff. She wrote the following note on her grease board for the staff as she left her room for the last time. "Thank you for everything, the care, kind words, extra moments spent in here, the hugs. Everything. You gals are awesome. I appreciate and am grateful to having met you all. Thanks for making me smile and laugh. Take Care. A."

She wanted me to forward this email to the staff and management for her. You can imagine the pride I felt when I read this email. I have always known that I work with a wonderful group of people, but this email confirmed the great impact we, as health care professionals, have on the families we serve.

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The night I was admitted was a very emotional night for me and my family. We faced the unknown and uncertainty of our monoamniotic monochorionic pregnancy. From the very first night when I was admitted I was met with care, and support (emotionally, physically and mentally), and overall welcomed by the ladies on 6HROB. At any given time my questions were answered and my fears were calmed. My husband and I knew that first night that we were in the right place at the right time and that eased our minds. Knowing this was very reassuring in facing what was yet to come. The roller coaster of memories and emotions from my stay were made that much easier by Tammy Gamble, Angie Gross, and Becky Hardwick. These three women went far beyond any nurse's duty and far beyond what I ever expected they ever had to. They made giving birth to the twins and knowing S would only be with us a short time emotionally easier.

People walk in and out of our lives on a daily basis, some unnoticeable and some leave lasting footprints in our minds and hearts. When I think of the time spent with the staff on 6 I only see lasting footprints and friends. Not nurses doing their jobs but nurses who became family and family was of the utmost of importance to me even more so as my family was hours away. I needed positivity, friends, words of encouragement, to be able cry and to laugh. These women accomplished all these and more.

Tammy, from day one, has seemed like a lifelong friend. Never did I feel like just a patient with her. She welcomed my twins and I into her world. Not just as a patient but as a friend. If I wanted to discuss the twins and pregnancy we did. If I wanted to discuss life, friends, or whatever came to mind we did. Tammy became my go to nurse. I looked to her for guidance, assurance and safety. I felt as though I was always in the best of hands. There were times Tammy just sat with me and held down the monitors while we monitored the twins and they didn't stay still for long. There were numerous times where I needed to just sit and know that someone was sitting with me and that was Tammy. I could just sit and feel as though no words needed exchanged. I had a calendar made for me and Tammy made a point if she wasn't my nurse that day or was going to be off for a few days to look ahead and laugh and tell me to anticipate certain days to come. She always asked how I was not just as a patient but how I was doing that day and how my kids and husband were doing. She made a point to invest her time and life into my life.

Every card, or piece of mail I received never went unnoticed by Tammy. She made a point to know me, and the people in my life. I welcomed that as I needed someone to just ask what was up. Whether it meant how the pregnancy was going or how the food tasted that day. Tammy exceeded anything I would ever expect and her ability to do her job and make me feel at ease was remarkable. We counted the weeks to see if Tammy would be on for our 32nd week delivery. It was Tammy's weekend to work making her get off duty at 7:00 a.m. Monday and my C-section scheduled for 12:00 p.m. that day. Tammy had to work that upcoming Monday night and when she told me that she was taken off the schedule and planned on sleeping in her car so she could be my support, my friend and my assurance that I could and would get through the day was the best surprise. I didn't want to go through the birth, and death of my daughter without Tammy as the impact and friendship throughout the pregnancy was very dear to me. The morning of the C-section when Tammy came in my room I felt reassured that I could face what was to come as I had my husband and Tammy with me. I feared the C-section, the births, and the passing of S The only two people who knew how much I feared what was to come was Tammy and my husband. The emotion and delicateness Tammy showed while caring for S during her short time with us affirmed that Tammy being a nurse was what she was meant to be. She went further and became a great friend. S's funeral was held on November 1st and would be held two hours North of Columbus. While getting to know Tammy she said she lived an hour South of Columbus, making it a three hour drive to the funeral. With a three hour drive and not the best of weather Tammy made the drive to the funeral. I was speechless and no words could describe the appreciation and gratitude I had. Here was a very caring nurse, and friend that came to honor my daughter at her funeral. For that I am forever grateful. S not only made an impact on our lives but left her tiny footprints on others as well.

Becky Hardwick, is an extremely nice woman. She had a no nonsense 'we will face this pregnancy head on and we will get through it as a whole'. I never felt like I was alone in Columbus or going through the pregnancy, birth and loss of S. Becky always, always made me laugh. She would tell the twins to settle down and not make her use her stern voice and put them in time out. I laughed and laughed. I remember telling Becky "don't cry, it's not time to cry, it's a happy time right now" which would make her cry more. The respect I have for Becky goes without saying. She is meant to be caring for people. The overall mood Becky brought into my room was that of laughter. We would talk and talk. I could mention a friend or family members name and Becky would be able to say "oh so and so that did such and such".

She listened and when by listening Becky got to know me, my family, and my twins. She was the person that I needed on the 7a.m.-7p.m. shift that like Tammy I would ask to be assigned to. Not discounting the other nurses in any way, as they all always showed me the utmost respect and care. Becky was just that person who I needed to see on that shift that knew me, and my twins as well as I did. I could cry, vent and just sit in silence with her. Every ultrasound and every scare Becky knew just what to say and just what to do to calm my nerves. Becky never wavered or showed fear when there was a scare. She always kept me at ease and talked me through every detail of my care. There was a point in my stay that I was having frequent contractions. Becky was going to be off for 3 days and said "I want you to drink water, and by drinking water I mean at least 4 jugs full a day"! I told her I would do my best and to have a few good days off. Well every day I drank more and more water and the other nurses knew I had to drink water as Becky told me too. So on the day she came back I decorated my white board on the outside of my door early that morning with a note for Becky telling her I was drinking those jugs of water. Becky left me a note back on the white board and when she came in that morning we just laughed and laughed.

Becky always knew how to make me laugh even when laughing seemed like the last thing I wanted to do. Laughter ended up being what I needed to do. For that I am forever grateful for Becky. She became a very good friend. It never felt like I was just another patient with her. It always felt like I was seeing a friend and catching up on the previous days antics. I needed that. I needed to feel like my situation with my twins didn't need to define every conversation. We knew why I was hospitalized and what would happen when I was to give birth. With Becky there was never a question of what her mood would be, or what the day would bring as she was ready to face anything and everything that was thrown at me with a smile and a laugh. When I speak of Becky like I do Tammy my family and friends don't ask which nurse I am talking about as that is how much I talked them up to my family and friends. They made my stay at OSU memorable, easier, and overall an experience I will never forget. I, as well as my family and friends are forever grateful that there are people in the world caring and putting others needs ahead of their own. They are truly doing God's work on earth.

Angie Gross is one of the most caring, thoughtful, gracious women I met during my stay at OSU. She would come into my room and immediately we would start laughing. The twins seemed to know when Angie was approaching and getting closer. The twins would move, and move. More so than any other time. The ongoing joke was don't let Angie near when it was monitoring time as the twins would give anyone trying to strap them down a run for their money. Angie would quietly tiptoe into my room and instantly the twins would squirm. I would tell Angie through my quiet hysterical laughs. Yes, I was covering my mouth trying not to laugh outloud. I would say, "don't come near we are getting a good stretch on the monitor"". Angie would instantly laugh, then that was it I was laughing out loud and the twins were on the run. Angie would always say the twins didn't like her. I would tell Angie that the twins did like her that is why they liked to play around and run when she was in the room. Angie was working the day of their birth. She requested I be assigned to her and I wouldn't of had it any other way. The care, emotion, and delicateness she had with me, my husband and more importantly "S" had such an impact on me. With Angie unlike others I could just cry and cry. I could just show how hurt I was. The passing of S was painful. The handing over of S to Angie after my husband and I said our final goodbye to her was without a doubt the hardest thing we ever had to do.

Angie sat beside me on the bed hugging and telling me that there was never a rush and she would sit with us as long as we needed. Angie cried with us and I'm forever and grateful to her as Angie was the strength my husband and I needed. After we turned S over to Angie my husband and I quietly left my room to go see our surviving daughter in the NICU. When we returned an hour later all of S's clothing, blankets, and jewelry were folded in a position that could only have been done with the utmost care, love and respect. There was a note on top that Angie left us, in seeing the delicately folded items and note I knew there was no other way I could of wanted S and her personal property handled. Angie is a true angel and she as well as Becky and Tammy are doing exactly what they all are meant to do. In knowing that S was only going to be with us a very short time. These ladies made both twin's lives mean so much more to so many more. Their life story will carry on through these women and through the memories I made with them.

I spent eight weeks with the ladies on 6HROB. There was never a doubt in my mind; I was where my girls and I needed to be. The care the twins and I received was beyond any expectation I ever had. I am eternally grateful, thankful, and appreciative to these women. The impact from them on my life has forever changed me as a person. Tammy, Becky and Angie are forever in our hearts. They made my pregnancy more bearable. They dived into my pregnancy and my life in that they knew me better than some people at home who have known me my entire life. They were a part of the most personal, and what was to be the biggest roller coaster of emotions ever experienced by myself. These were weeks, and months of what was the happiest and saddest of times. All culminating in the birth of the twins. Even though S was with us only a short time, I am proud that both were met with so much anticipation and love. As I continue to find a "new normal" for myself and family the words of encouragement, the support and the friends I made with these three women will assist in finding that "New Normal".

On my whiteboard the day I turned 32 weeks it read the following, 7.35 month, 32 weeks, 224 days, 5376 hours, 322,560 minutes, We Made It! When I wrote "WE" I meant everyone. Tammy, Becky and Angie were so much a part of that "WE". It was never just me. There were 3 lives in room #678 that were impacted by these three women. Thank you.