My husband and I were pregnant with our first child, a baby boy whose name is G. After finding out he had fetal growth restriction at 20 weeks, we got the devastating news at 22 weeks that there was no longer a heartbeat, and our baby boy had gone to heaven. Along with being absolutely crushed, I immediately got anxious thinking about having to deliver him stillborn.

Not only is the delivery of a healthy baby scary, but the thought of having to birth our lifeless baby was terrifying. Once at the hospital, Ellie was our L&D nurse, and my goodness, all I can say is that we were blessed to have Ellie. Right when we checked in, Ellie was there to answer our questions and just be there to support us. We didn't have any family at the hospital, so she kept asking us if we needed anything and if we were doing ok but also spent time learning about us and knowing our family and lives. I got to tell her the story of losing my dad just 8 months prior and how much that had affected us and this loss. When she referred to our baby, she called him by his name and made sure we knew he was a precious human being.

During the whole laboring process, she listened to my pain and addressed it as needed. She was even there to hold my hand while I pushed him out and just cried. After he was delivered, she spent over an hour taking precious photos of our baby boy, creating mementos for us to take home, and lastly, reminding us of how beautiful our baby boy was. I could literally write a novel about how grateful and thankful we were to have had Ellie as our nurse. It takes a special person and nurse to be able to walk a family through a stillbirth, and Ellie did it with such grace, compassion, and care. We will appreciate her every single day for the rest of our lives. She made our delivery of G so, so special. Something we will never forget.