Our baby, M. was born at 32 weeks at 1:01 am. She had anencephaly and only lived for 45 minutes. Brook was the night nurse who took care of us both nights we were in the hospital. This being our first baby, my wife and I were a bit nervous not knowing what to expect, especially with our baby’s condition. Brook was so patient with us. She did an amazing job of explaining every detail about what we were going to expect each step of the way. She held my wife’s hand and hugged her while the epidural was going in. She made us feel so calm during the whole process.

Brook was also there for delivery telling my wife when to push and when to breathe. But it was after delivery and M. had passed when Brook really overwhelmed us by her love and care!

My father-in-law was downstairs battling cancer at the same time M. arrived. Brook made a way possible for my father-in-law to meet his brand new granddaughter! She took photos (with our permission) the whole time so we can cherish those memories forever! Being the middle of the night, Bella Baby wasn’t able to come out until the next day for photos. So Brook did a little photo shoot with M. that night and took some of our favorite photos of our baby! We also had trouble with the hats we brought being too big due to M’s condition. Brook pulled some hats out of nowhere that fit perfectly. She also found some booties and a tiny little teddy bear that was the perfect size for our little baby!

We also knew we wanted to have a hat with a bow for the funeral, but again everything we had was too small. Brook found some pink ribbon, tied it into a bow, and sewed it onto one of the small hats to get us exactly what we wanted M. to wear for her funeral.

Brook also captured so many footprints and hand/foot molds for keepsakes for us. She even went down and got my father-in-law's thumbprint, and with my daughter's footprint, made them in the shape of a butterfly! It is one of our favorite things in the entire world! She also made suggestions for memories that we didn’t even think of. She brought up a tub of water and some soap and she helped us give M. her first bath. It is my favorite memory that we had with our daughter. It’s something we never thought we were going to be able to do in our baby's short life, but Brook made it happen! Not only was she amazing at our stay, but she also took the time out of her day to come to M’s visitation service.

Brook really went above and beyond what we could have hoped for and made the whole experience so memorable and special. Not only do my wife and I recommend St Francis Eastside to all of our pregnant friends, but we have already decided our future babies will all be delivered at St Francis Eastside with the hopes that Brook will be our nurse to help deliver those babies.