G was born at 26 weeks gestation, so he had a long stay in the NICU. There were staff who treated him like a ‘little friend’, motherly and warm. There were a special few who treated him like his own person, really getting to know his preferences. And there was Courtney who went above and beyond to get to know not just G, but our family as a whole, and look out for all three of us.

In those second and third weeks, G was still very fragile. My husband went back to work and freshly postpartum I was navigating horrific medical updates without him each day and it was all wearing on me. The morning before I went to the hospital to find that G was first assigned Courtney, I remember my husband and I having a conversation about how the rotation of G’s care staff felt like groundhog’s day - introducing ourselves and letting them know we like to be involved in his cares, and how we like to get him out of his isolette, and our schedule. We’d have a bedside nurse for two days in a row and then feel back to square one. I dreaded asking the nurses for anything. No one dreams of having to wander through the hall to bother someone to hold their own baby and it guts you when they act bothered. But immediately, Courtney came in and asked how I like to schedule my day and smiled and nodded and told me that’s what she did when she had her baby in the NICU and I felt a huge sense of relief. I think she would have been just as empathetic had she not been in my shoes before, but she certainly understood things having been there. Like that in the early days of c-section recovery, it’s really hard to bend over the Giraffe at certain heights or stand from the chair with the baby. She understood that in those early days you’re being asked to pump every 2-3 hours to establish your milk supply and always clarified with me my plans so she would be right there to help me kanga immediately after finishing pumping so I could hold him as long as possible. She understood that holding him was the only good part of those early days and if a procedure or exam wasn’t emergent, she would ask them to come back later.

In the later weeks, if they rounded early before I was in or when I was holding G, she would be sure to ask questions I would want to know and fill me in. She let us know what was going on without worrying me unnecessarily. She would offer to order lunch for me when I had him out. She asked my husband and me if we wanted a photo of both of us with G, something we hadn’t even thought about. She was there to help us put G in his first outfit and made it very special for us and even took a video for me.

We were talking one day about how Courtney was there for a lot of our big moments like that, but it dawned on us that those big moments were happening every day and Courtney really just made those moments special for us. I’m eternally grateful for our care staff that allowed us to feel like parents, and Courtney is a shining example of that.