...Our twin boys were born and admitted to the NICU. Our sons were only with us for a short time before they passed away, but we will always cherish the time we had with them. The care we received from the entire NICU staff was wonderful, but Jeanne Burns stands out as exemplifying outstanding care and compassion.

Knowing how important it would be later that we would have mementos of our sons, she called the photographer from Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Photography to take pictures and allowed us to take pictures as well.

Jeanne was with us throughout the entire day and into the night, well past what must have been her regular shift. Working tirelessly, she stood and hand ventilated one baby for hours. She respected our decisions regarding continued treatment of our sons, allowing us time to come to terms with the inevitable. We felt included and were kept informed, along with our extended family, of how the babies were doing. She made sure we had sufficient time with the boys. When it was time for our sons to leave us we were glad that we handed them to her and not a stranger. Knowing how important this was for us, she volunteered to come in on her day off to take them.

I have recently read several stories written by parents who experience the loss of an infant. Many of them did not have the opportunities we did to create memories with their babies that would last a lifetime. On what was the hardest day of our lives, we are so thankful that Jeanne and the NICU staff gave us the gift of memories of our sons, such as holding, bathing, and dressing our babies, as well as giving us their blankets, hats, angel bears and hand and foot prints. When we were not capable of making decisions ourselves, they provided these experiences that would later be so important to us.

When we questioned how she was able to do all of this, Jeanne answered: "I did it for the boys."