Our newborn daughter E was born premature at P/SL with a duplex left kidney and urination system. She was immediately put into Rocky Mountain NICU. When sent home, we were in such a gray area of the unknown and only knew to return when she reached 3 months of age. After coming home, she became sick during the middle of the night and was admitted to Children's Hospital NICU.

At intake, the NP had collected our discharge paperwork from P/SL and it appeared as though no nurses could return it to us. Also, although we were present and waiting the doctors NEVER rounded into our room with either parent. They met in a hallway and when we as parents would be making inquiries to the nurses about our daughter's care many nurses gave the "I don't know" answer with zero follow through to get the answer. At times, as parents, we felt like it was a bother to the nurses to ask questions. Even a question of "how much Tylenol is she receiving?" went unanswered. An NP entered and began to expedite my daughter's discharge, and I yelled out "No we do not even know what bacteria she has nor how to treat her at home!" He made a funny look and left. A nurse and her mentor trainer then arrived, and still very little information was shared, and even more unanswered questions. I went so far as to stand in the hallway and interrupt rounds on a neighboring patient and say "Excuse me we have never been included in rounds can you please stop by and see if you can direct us to a few answers?" That Nurse Practitioner soon came into our room, made note of our concerns, and we were assured that the morning would be better.

Then as morning shift change occurred that entire negative experience came to an abrupt stop. Nurse Jenna Edwards came in and asked how things were going. I voiced my frustrations and concerns. She took the approach of: "this will be ironed out today and we will get you answers." This remarkable human made it a goal to connect the dots and get us the correct people to answer our questions. Each time she came into the room to give an update as to when the next person would arrive and any information she also learned. We met with the surgeon from Urology and the daytime NP who then all explained what exactly was making our infant so sick and what the plan of action would be to treat it. Our nurse Jenna Edwards then explained that although she is regularly on the 6th floor, she was working today to help out in the NICU. We were blown away by how a relief nurse navigated us through the NICU with far more compassion understanding and sincerity than an average nurse familiar with the unit. She went above and beyond to help us get every medical question answered. When the NP entered, she said "So I hear that you would like to know how to know when your baby may be showing signs of trouble?" We got educated with clear boundaries and zones to look for and no longer felt like deer in headlights type of parents. Our nurse, Jenna also followed through with the surgeon, who was not responding, and got him down to us to answer questions about the inevitable surgery that our daughter would be having in the very near future. Within a few short hours, our experience took a 360° turn and we felt confident in her care and finally knowledgeable enough to go home without fear. The nurse facilitated that we would have clear boundaries know exactly what to look for be able to recognize the warning signs and be able to take measures to comfort our child as she went in and out of pain. It was actions may seem like the simplest actions in that care that you would normally get from a nurse but in our experience in two hospitals, we had never had a nurse take the initiative nor show the true made her actions even more extraordinary the fact than she was able to navigate that floor and do everything possible for us makes her a remarkable human being that needs to be recognized.

I hope with every ounce of me that Nurse Jenna Edwards gets recognized for the small way that she had a tremendous impact on everything to do with our infant. She understood that she had empathy and compassion like no other nurse we had seen yet. The only downside was that I am aware that if we get admitted to NICU again we may not ever cross paths with her. Although our paths may never cross, I would like to honor her for every one of her actions because to my family it meant the world. The fact that she was so humble and gracious during doing this as though it was just second nature to her made me appreciate her even more. Forever be thankful.