Lauren carried us through the, simultaneously, most joyful and most difficult day of our lives. We entered the Labor & Delivery floor full of anxiety and anticipation for the birth, and consequently, death of our beautiful son F who had a life-limiting diagnosis. When day shift staff arrived for what would be our son's birthday, we were greeted with a warm smile and loud personality from our now favorite nurse, Lauren!

She took the time to care for us not only physically, but emotionally, whenever we needed and it was as if she could anticipate every need of ours that might arise. Lauren cheered with us during our celebration with our son and cried with us when, after 2 hours and 13 minutes, he peacefully passed away all cozy and wrapped in a super swaddle, courtesy of Lauren! In the minutes and hours after F passed, Lauren continued to care for F like she would any other newborn baby, and this meant the world to his moms!

As we navigate two weeks since F’s passing and the journey ahead, we are leaning on the sweet memories and photos of that day and without Lauren, those memories would not be as meaningful as they are. Lauren’s nursing skills that day went above and beyond the call of nursing and we know that she had an incredible impact on our lives and our son’s life, as short as it may have been. There is truly no nurse more deserving of recognition than Lauren!