My wife was hospitalized with preeclampsia at week 25. We are currently on day 13 of our hospital stay and delivered on day 11 through c-section. We have had many wonderful and amazing nurses in our time, and I’m sure we will continue to see many more until she is discharged and then further on while our daughter is treated in the NICU, but so far, one nurse has stood out as a God send. One day my wife became very sick and symptomatic with lots of BP changes. Emotionally and physically, she had hit the wall and then hit it again and again. One of the hardest things I’ve experienced is watching her cry out in pain and from emotional exhaustion. She was unsure if she had enough to keep enduring, but we knew every hour we could give our little girl in the womb was critical. My wife was such a fighter, but she needed some more encouragement- encouragement I could not alone give her.

My wife and I are strong believers in God and believe He works in many ways and through lots of people, but that night, he worked through Sandi. I think without being told, Sandi knew that my wife was at the end of her rope. She shared with us her personal experience of being a long-term pregnant patient in this very hospital. Through her own tears and ours, she shared that the fight was not over and that my wife did have the strength to overcome. It was precisely what my wife needed to hear, and it came at the right time. As a fellow healthcare worker, I’ve been inspired by the entire staff here to be a better and more compassionate caregiver. You never truly know how you can impact a patient with your actions. Thanks will never be enough to everyone, but I hope this amount of recognition lets her know how much she really helped us.