Joseph and his primary nurse, Renee’, on day 100 in the NICU.
I had never met a NICU nurse until the early hours on Halloween morning 2009. In all honesty, my first encounter with a NICU nurse wasn’t overwhelmingly positive. She was giving me the grim statistics of what living with 24 week twin boys could be like – if they even survived the delivery. There I was, in a hospital bed, having only been in labor for a couple of hours, and my world was being turned upside down. Knowing that our boys would be born any minute, she was telling me they could be blind, deaf, have severe cognitive and developmental delays. The list went on and on.
At the time, I was so mad at her. How dare her tell me these things. My boys were going to be born perfectly healthy. Labor was going to stop and my boys would make it to term.
Wrong.
I later realized I needed to thank her. She was sent at 6:00 am with the gut-wrenching task of looking two parents in the face and telling them the truth. She wasn’t telling us anything that we wanted to hear. She was telling us what we needed to hear.
I never said thank you.
To the NICU nurse who was faced with the task of giving us these statistics, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who spent the holidays working and taking care of Joseph rather than with their family, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who celebrated every joy with us, no matter how big or small, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who stayed past her shift to be there for Joseph’s first eye exam, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who took a picture of Joseph’s first smile and placed it by the bedside, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who cried with us when we were given less than positive news, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who visited the funeral home when Campbell passed away, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who missed your child’s first baseball game because you were taking care of our child, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who worked all night and went straight to your daughter’s school the next morning for breakfast without a wink of sleep, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who made sure Mother’s Day was extra special because it was being spent in the NICU, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who stopped by the local donut shop on her way to the hospital to bring a special treat to us early one morning, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who called the hospital to check on Joseph even when you weren’t working, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who organized a six month birthday party for Joseph in the NICU, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who made sure Joseph’s first trip outside of the hospital walls was an incredibly special day, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who dressed Joseph in an outfit so we could take family Christmas pictures, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who took so many pictures while we joyfully gave Joseph his first bath, thank you.
To the NICU nurse who listened intently and patiently to my five thousand questions, thank you.
Thank you for giving of yourself. Thank you for caring for your patients as if they are your own children. Thank you for caring for parents and for loving them in their darkest moments. Thank you for supporting and nurturing your patients and their families like they are the only people in the world.
It takes a special person to be a NICU nurse. It is not a job that just anyone can do. A NICU nurse is patient, kind, loving, generous, giving, caring, creative, genuine, nurturing, and so much more.
To the NICU nurses who care for sick babies and their families all around the world, Happy Neonatal Nurses Day.
