We had the great pleasure of meeting Sarah through the SBU in the NICU. Our son was born at 25 weeks and 5 days, and she was his nurse on day two of life. She mentioned “primary nurses” and what that all included. From that day, every single shift she worked, she signed up to work with our son, T. We added a few nurses to our primary list to have consistency as much as possible. She said she was okay with it and would share up, but ended up not wanting to share him, so we always joked that she was our “primary primary nurse”! She was much more than just his nurse and became family, his NICU momma. Spending time in the NICU is hard as a parent, and she made it easier knowing a familiar face when we walked in was loving and caring for our son. Her talents and skills are unmatched. She goes above and beyond in everything she does. During our time in the NICU, we encountered some very scary times and definitely rode the “NICU roller coaster”. She was there with us every step of the way. Sarah not only helped us understand everything going on (and told us never to Google anything) but also developed a special relationship with our son and with us. He would light up when he heard her voice. We joked he had separation anxiety from her as she would step out of the room, and he would instantly drop his stats, as if to say, “Come back”.

Sarah stood by us during one of the hardest days of our lives and cared for our son with such love and compassion. That day, she worked through her breaks and lunches and even stayed late to hear test results. This is a day I will never forget, as she said, as a momma herself, she loves her son so much, but our son now has a piece of her heart, too. Walking out together with tears in all our eyes, hoping and praying for healing. She checked in on him as she happened to be working as admissions during shifts and would sign up for him weeks in advance when the schedule came out. No matter what was going on that day, she always made a point to connect with us to either make sure we knew what was going on, check in to see how we were doing, or just have conversations.

We connected in so many ways, and I'm so very thankful for our relationship. She's like a sister I've never had before. She was able to follow T during his entire NICU stay of 125 days, and we are so thankful. We still connect with her after our discharge. We will never be able to repay her for everything she has done for us and our son. We are forever thankful for her, the talents and knowledge she brings to work with her every day, and the love and compassion she shows every single day. We are so beyond grateful she was placed in our son's life and our lives. She deserves nothing but the best!