I am here to nominate Nora for the extraordinary care she provided baby…, as well as the Extraordinary Nurse she always is. This is a wild story, but I used to work alongside Nora as a nurse in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Children's National for years. She is so easy to admire: hardworking, kind to everyone, incredibly smart, and always going above and beyond in her care. However, I moved to Germany with the military. While here in Germany, I befriended a lovely soon-to-be mother also associated with the military. Two days before the baby was born, a late scan found major heart defects requiring surgery, after thinking the pregnancy was healthy the entire time. They were flown directly to D.C. on a military aircraft, and Nora admitted their sweet baby. 

Before the baby's surgery, Nora took the time to give him a bath with his parents... something they had never even gotten to do. The mom now shares with me that Nora always made her feel like a normal mom even in the middle of a CICU stay, saying things like "(baby), we don't need you to have stinky feet... (mom), do you have extra socks for him?" The baby was admitted between Thanksgiving and New Year's; he spent Christmas in the hospital. Of course, Nora went out and got them a Christmas tree for their room, complete with lights and ornaments. The baby's spirit animal became the lion, something to which the mother now tightly clings; and so of course Nora got all lion ornaments. The mother tells me now that Nora always made sure her baby had his good luck stuffed animal next to him at all times. Nora has made a tremendous impact on their lives and is someone the mother thinks about constantly. Nora totally and completely transformed their overall experience and stay, became a lifeline for the mother, and always knew how to connect with her, during the worst time in her life.

The baby had a very tough course of recovery, requiring ECMO support multiple times in the span of a month. And tragically, he passed away. I received a message from the mother a couple days before they had to say goodbye to her baby, asking if I could relay the message that they would be saying goodbye (to her baby) and that the mother and her husband wanted Nora present. Nora came in for two extra days in a row to first make footprints, support the family as they baptized the baby, and prepare for the following day when they withdrew (ECMO). That day, the mother shared a photo with me of Nora reading a book to the baby, surrounded by a sea of pumps and medications. She captioned it "when your favorite nurse reads you a book." 

I am sure I am missing many, many little and important details that Nora did every day that she cared for the baby. I know that for sure because I witnessed those small details when I used to work with her. This experience, though, has made me appreciate Nora with a brand new kind of depth. I am seeing for the first time myself the kind of impact a nurse can truly make in the life of a parent, as I listen to the mother talk about Nora with such immense gratitude, even through her unfathomably thick grief. Nora is someone the mother will treasure forever because of the way she went above and beyond, the way she cared so very much, and the way she loved her baby. I've never known a nurse more deserving of this award... It has brought me to tears so many times to think about how lucky I feel to have worked with and learned from such an extraordinary person, and to now see the impact Nora continues to have in the mother's life even though (and especially because) the baby is gone. The mother's memories are all she has... and she tells me every day how lucky she feels to have the memories that Nora gifted them. His first and only bath. His footprint artwork she took the time to do. The book she read to him. The extra shifts and time she picked up to be present with that family on the worst day of their lives.

I know that if I were to tell this to Nora she would say... oh gosh, I'm just doing my job.

Note: This is Nora's 2nd DAISY Award!