My baby boy was in the NICU for almost four months. He actually became the senior citizen of the unit as I watched other babies go home each day. During his stay there was one day I couldn’t come in at all when he was about 3 weeks old due to a Covid exposure and not wanting to risk bringing anything there. I have to say that was one of my hardest days. I spent hours at bedside everyday with my son and to not be able to go in and just be with him broke my heart. I spent hours crying.

It was a Sunday and normally on weekends you have the same nurse both days because they work every other weekend. I would also call routinely to check in on him if I couldn’t make it until the afternoon. This particular day I was already expecting the nurse he had on Saturday, but when I was transferred to his nurse it was somebody new. The nurse from the previous day went home early, and another nurse took over. For the most part in 3 weeks, I have met and seen a lot of nurses, but I never met her, which had me even more anxious as a mom who can’t come in at all and there is a nurse who just met my son. Well, boy did she change my perspective quickly. She already knew I couldn’t come in that day, because I had talked to the charge nurse the night prior and our whole situation. She gave me a very detailed update on my son from everything that happened through the night till that moment. She also told me where he was and what he was doing at that moment. She even comforted me without even meeting me, on how tough it was for me to personally make the decision to stay home and protect my son and all of the NICU babies and staff. She appreciated my decision and told me I was doing what was right for my baby and everyone else.

The moment that really got me was when she asked if I would like to talk to him. I was able to tell my baby over speaker how much I loved him and that I would be there as soon as I could and to stay strong, Mommy’s still with you. I will never forget that day. That was only the beginning of our journey.

From that day she was often thrown into the mix having our son 2-3 days in a row. She was eventually convinced by a coworker to share primary care on their scheduled days with my son being so busy, the load needed to be shared. She ended up having our baby nearly all the time. She shared she was never a primary nurse before, it’s hard for a nurse to stick with the same patient for long periods of time you begin to lose other skills or opportunities. Some parents may have taken that in the wrong way, but as both of us (my husband and I) are nurses, I truly understood what she meant. When you have the same patient for a long time you miss other skills or just get burnt out if they were hard or need a lot of attention.

And as for my son, needing a lot of attention was a huge understatement, I will admit it, he needed to be held around the clock due to hating his CPAP. Holding him was the only thing that would comfort him and make him feel safe. The fact that she chose to be his primary anyway knowing how hard it was and she chose him, anyway, let me know how much she cared about him and wanted to take care of him. She had spent pretty much every hard event or day with us, from the day to not being able to see my boy to his first upper GI procedure and needing to leave the floor for it to be done, and his surgery day. Those days were extremely tough and all the times he took a step backwards and ended up back on CPAP even if she wasn’t the nurse she was always around and popping in. She would not only check on him, but always on us as well. I spent a lot of conversations with her in his room, she would multitask and took the time to build rapport and trust with me. She always engaged with us and not only my son. She became a huge rock for me during this time, especially emotionally. She took being a primary seriously and protected my son and made sure he had the best of care at all times. She also always made sure I had everything I needed and was comfortable. Her skills and learning to read his cues were amazing, she would even chart in the room so she could tend to him at the same time. I have literally watched her as I pumped, chart with one hand and hold a pacifier in his mouth with the other. Now if that doesn’t speak volumes on just how phenomenal she is!

I requested for her to be at both his procedure and surgery day, not only to be his nurse but to be in both procedures. That takes a lot of time away from them, but she made it happen. I couldn’t physically be there, so she stood in for me and let me know my baby was doing well and safe. I am extremely grateful for her and thankful that she became a part of our son’s life. She would rock him for hours, feed him a little early each meal because he would get hungry. She got all his care done and so much more.

Our son still knows her voice and who she is to this day. She made him feel safe and we trusted her with him fully. She even came in on her day off for his graduation day to send him off. She will always truly be special to us, and we will never forget the love and passion she showed in her care for our baby. Her whole heart was put into our family and believing our son’s a fighter, and he was going to make it out of there!