How do you say thank you to the people who saved your child’s life? Finding words to honor their dedication, compassion, kindness, brilliance, and love is an impossibly difficult task. I’ve heard lots of people say that their NICU nurses became like family to them, but it’s so much more than that. Spend 160 of the hardest days of your life with your family. Days when you’re sleep deprived, hurting, emotionally drained, scared out of your mind, questioning everything, and tell me how many family members are still speaking. NICU nurses see us at our worst for days and days on end. They experience every high and low with us. They answer the same questions over and over again. They fight for each baby with everything they have. Through it all they remain kind, respectful, and compassionate. Their hearts are evident in everything they do. It’s a powerful bond, completely different from anything I’ve experienced before.
Thank you is not nearly enough, but it is all I have for now. So, thank you. Thank you for loving my child and caring for him like he was your own. Thank you for learning what each movement and sound meant so you could teach me what he needed. Thank you for comforting my son when I didn’t know how. Thank you for holding him when I couldn’t be there.
Thank you for fighting for my child. Thank you for never, ever giving up on him. Thank you knowing him better than anyone. Thank you for being the first to know each time something was wrong, and for being the first to take action. Thank you for advocating for him to his doctors and therapists. Thank you for doing everything in your power to give him the best possible chance.
Thank you for the compassion and kindness you showed me every single day, even when you were tired and hurting. Thank you for understanding when all I could do was cry on the bad days and for giving me reasons to smile and laugh on the good days. Thank you for becoming my teacher, my guide, my lifeline in the NICU.
Thank you for showing me the beauty of the NICU. Thank you for encouraging me to touch my baby. Thank you for teaching me about Kangaroo Care. Thank you for encouraging me to read and sing to my sweet baby boy.
Thank you for giving me moments like this:
And this:
And this:
I know, without a doubt, that one of biggest reasons my son is here today is because of the care he received from his NICU nurses. Their incredible knowledge, experience, and love helped to sustain him and give him strength. I cannot explain what a comfort they were to me. I knew he was in the best possible hands, and when your baby is critically ill, that knowledge provides an amazing sense of peace even through the most chaotic moments. I am grateful every single day for each one of his nurses, and will never forget the life changing impact they had on me, and on the life of my amazing little boy. They are the definition of a hero, and will be in my heart forever.