My wife and I went to Banner University Medical Center to begin induction for our first baby boy. Liz was the nurse with us, and she immediately came in with a welcoming smile and a sense of familiarity. It was almost as if we immediately trusted her. Sunday was calm and encouraging, and we even shared a few jokes between us as Liz helped my wife with the medicine and monitoring. As we left that night, Liz said she would come find us the next day as we came in for the delivery of our son. On Monday, my wife and I went into the hospital, prepared to meet our son that evening. Liz came and found us as she said she would. After a few to several hours of great progress, we got to a point where our baby boy's heart rate was dropping from ~130 to ~80 with each contraction. After an hour of moving my wife in all different directions, we weren’t seeing improvement in his heart rate. Things began to move quickly, and within minutes, my wife was being pushed out the door to the operating room for an urgent C-section.

At this point, several nurses rushed over to the OR with my wife. Liz stayed behind to help and prepare me. She let me know that the brief 10-minute wait as they prepared for surgery may be the longest ten minutes of my life. She helped me get into surgical clothes and came to get me when they were set to begin the surgery. Through the whole thing, Liz kept her welcoming, calming smile. Within minutes, our son was born into the world, and we felt a sense of relief. Afterwards, due to concerns with tests throughout the pregnancy, our baby boy needed to spend two nights separated from us in the NICU while we were upstairs in postpartum. Our boy was discharged from NICU on Wednesday.

Within an hour of our now family of three getting to be together upstairs, we heard a knock on the door. It was Liz, and we cannot put into words the warmth and love she provided as she visited with us. Liz was able to hold our perfectly healthy baby boy. Liz was under no obligation to come and find us on the day of birth. She was under no obligation to come upstairs and find us in the postpartum ward. She did just that, and she did it with immense grace and compassion. Liz provided a level of assurance that can’t be taught. We know for certain we will never have a more meaningful and lasting interaction in a hospital than the few days we got to have with her. From the absolute bottom of our hearts, a sincere thank you. We wish you and your loved ones nothing but joy, health, and lasting memories. Please know the impact that you had on us.