We are second-round NICU parents and currently in the NICU with our daughter R. She was a routine C-section, but was having oxygen level issues at birth and ended up coming into the NICU from the OR. We had a good start where she came off CPAP, was balancing her sugars, and had come off her IV and was working her way to a healthy discharge, when we had a setback with a feeding that caused her to require going back on CPAP to help her oxygen levels rebound. We were devastated and scared, and had been in the NICU for 3 days already. She was stabilized and checked out by the NICU doctors and nurses, who were exceptional at their jobs, but there is one nurse who I truly feel deserves recognition and praise for her incredible knowledge and dedication to her job. Cathy was our day nurse as our little girl was leveling out and coming off the CPAP for the second time. She was compassionate about our fears and incredibly informative as we worked through the new fears we had about how to properly care for our child to make sure there wasn’t a setback in her recovery again. She noticed small things like that our baby required some help pacing the bottle and taught us how to do this. This one piece of information, had it been noticed by an earlier nurse and given sooner, may have saved our child from having to go back on the CPAP or having this setback at all. Her bedside manner is the best I have received from both our last NICU stay and our current one. She is professional about how she handles herself, but also has the ability to put you so at ease that you feel like you’ve known her forever. The trust she was able to build with my husband and me feels more like a grandmother who has all the answers to life secrets than a person we have only known for a few days. We wish we could take her home with us when we eventually get discharged, as she gives us peace of mind knowing her care is top-notch. And this isn't only for my daughter. I see the way she cares about each of her patients. How she speaks to each baby with love and patience, even in the more stressful situations, I am moved by her ability to remain calm and uplifting for each and every person she comes into contact with. What a blessing she is to your staff and to the community that has to experience their child struggling in the NICU. She is truly a wealth of knowledge and experience. We love her and wanted you to know just how much her presence and care affected our experience.