Our son was born extremely premature at 27 weeks gestation in September. When we found out he would have to be delivered due to my severe preeclampsia, we were shocked and scared, yet excited, all at the same time. He spent a total of 95 days in the NICU at Miami Valley Hospital, and I can’t imagine how different our time would have been there if we hadn’t met Sam.

About a week after our son was born, Sam was assigned as his nurse for the first time. He happened to need a blood transfusion this day as well, and we were very nervous as his condition had unfortunately been getting worse. Sam was optimistic and extremely kind to us, making sure we felt comfortable and informed about everything that was happening with our son that day. We probably asked dozens of questions about what was happening and why, and she handled it all with grace and ease.

After having her as his nurse for just a couple of days, Sam actually chose him to be her primary patient. We were elated to know someone had chosen him for their primary, as we wanted to be sure there was someone who would consistently be with him and that it was someone we were confident in and comfortable spending a lot of time with. We knew very quickly that Sam was the perfect primary nurse for our son. She is knowledgeable, detail-oriented, a great multi-tasker, patient, empathetic, considerate, and kind, and she has an excellent bedside manner. She also spent time getting to know us, which she didn’t have to do, and after just a few weeks, she got to know our personalities and senses of humor quite well, which made our time more enjoyable to have someone to chat with and joke with when we needed a good laugh on a bad day. I even remember Sam holding me while I cried the day I found out our son needed a second blood transfusion, as she’d been there for the first one and knew how worried we were for him.

Sam was also eager to handle any requests we had with professionalism and, of course, with safety in mind. On multiple occasions, she took family photos of us when we were holding our son or when we wanted him in a certain outfit. She helped us safely lay him on a special blanket so we could get pictures of him when he turned 1 & 2 months old in the NICU. She was with us when we wanted to celebrate all of the big or small milestones he had hit, from getting extubated to getting to wear his first outfit. She would let us pick from the batch of fun, holiday-themed bedding for him so it would look nicer in the background of our pictures. She helped us celebrate his first holidays with him and understood that we wanted to continue certain family traditions that we would have wanted to do with him if he had been home. It was extra special that we got to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas Day with her as well. All of these are memories that we will never forget, not that we would ever forget our son’s NICU journey, but it just wouldn’t have been the same without her.

Sam made a lasting impression on all of us, including our son, and we can’t even begin to thank her enough for all of her support and kindness throughout the 3 months we spent there. We still keep in touch with Sam today, and we can’t wait to see where her career takes her. She definitely has a bright future ahead of her and we can’t wait to watch all of her success. We can’t wait to teach our son all about her someday!