Everyone who watched over and cared for our daughter during her 36 days in the NICU was amazing. We’re so thankful for all of them, and we can’t say enough about Children’s Hospital. So for us to want to nominate Jen means she was, and still is, truly special to us. Right from day one, Jen helped involve us in our daughter’s NICU journey, letting us know that we could help change diapers and calm our daughter during her care times. Slowly, we were able to grow in confidence. I think Jen saw two young parents, wide-eyed and unsure, and did everything she could to take us under her wing in a maternal fashion, reassuring us that our daughter was safe and right where she needed to be healthy and growing. Jen made sure that she knew our names and used them when talking with us. That personal, heartfelt connection spoke volumes to us.

When alarms went off on our daughter’s monitor while we were holding her (and if you’ve spent any time in NICU, you can imagine how often that happened), Jen was right there, reassuring us when things were fine, and if they weren’t, offering suggestions as to how we could help our daughter by repositioning her or helping her cool down if she was too worked up. First thing in the morning, Jen would also let me know how our daughter had done overnight, even before it was time for rounds.

Jen empathized with us about what we were going through. That was clear to see. When I was set to be discharged from the hospital, my husband told me that Jen asked him how I was doing because she knew that would be a difficult day for me, as I was leaving our daughter behind in the hospital to go home. She got a box of tissues for me, just in case. Jen was patient and kind, answering all our questions (of which we had many) and making sure that we understood what she was saying before moving on.

She also demonstrated to us proper techniques and gave tips and helpful tricks when it came time to start bottle-feeding our daughter as well. It’s clear that Jen cares deeply about helping educate parents in taking care of their children. She made sure that we were able to be there for bath time and weight-taking, scheduling those later in the day because she knew doing those things were important to us. My husband, who worked during the day, was especially appreciative of this, because that was when he came visit out daughter. Jen cared about more than just our daughter’s physical health as well. She encouraged us to put photos up in our daughter’s crib so that our little girl would be able to see our faces and her family members even when we weren’t there, which might seem like a small encouragement with everything else going on in NICU, but that speaks to the love and care she has for her patients and their families. She also remembered a conversation we had about our dog and gave us one of our daughter’s old swaddles that was going to be tossed so our dog could get used to her scent.

Jen advocated for our daughter. She pushed for her to get her cannula out when she was ready for it and made sure to move to another part of the room by natural light when it became available so our daughter could start to get her days and nights down. That same day, our daughter was acting a bit off. Jen knew her well enough to know that she was behaving oddly and made sure that she was being watched extra closely (as well as letting us know so we could watch too) until we knew she was okay. At one point in our NICU journey, Jen was going to be off for a few days. Our daughter was doing really well, and Jen came by to make sure that she said goodbye to all of us just in case we were discharged before we saw her again. She didn’t have to do that. Again, her kind words and actions spoke volumes to our little family.

Our daughter wasn’t discharged then, but it turned out that Jen was our daughter’s nurse the day she was discharged. The joy and excitement that she had for her daughter and for us was nothing short of amazing. Our one regret is that in the moment, we didn’t think to get a picture of our daughter with the woman who made such an impact on all our lives. Jen didn’t just make that impact on our lives, though. No, she has the same level of care, affection, and dedication for all of the children under her care. We saw it every day. NICUs are blessed to have nurses like Jen working at them. But there’s only one Jen, and we’re thankful that we met her and that she was one of the many nurses taking care of our little girl.

We know that many talented, amazing nurses get nominated for the DAISY Award. It’s our belief that Jen is exactly the sort of nurse who should be recognized. Not because she goes about her job in order to be recognized but because she pours her heart and soul into taking care of children and families throughout their NICU journey. To us, she is the embodiment of what it means to be a NICU nurse, and we will always remember her and thank God for her!