Excerpts from nomination written by the mom of a baby who passed shortly after birth:

My doctor sent us up to be induced and…I wasn’t ready to give birth knowing what was going to happen after…then, Rachel, our nurse, walked in. I could feel everything I had felt the last 1-2 hours leave my body, and I knew when I saw her bright smile and her passion that I was going to be OK because she was beside me. I don’t know how she does her job so well and how she makes people feel like everything is going to be OK in the worst moment of our life, but it’s absolutely the best feeling I’ve felt in such a gut-wrenching moment. I remember her asking the right questions and getting to know us and spending one-on-one time with me and my significant other and just really showing how much she cared and how much she truly loved her job, whether it was helping a mom birth a healthy child or helping a mom birth a child knowing he/she wasn’t going to make it. She made everything in the room seem so happy and joyful and always came in with a huge smile, asking if we needed anything, if we needed to talk, or if we just needed privacy.

She held my hand as it was time to push. Made everything feel OK. The pain was non-existent with the encouragement I was receiving from this wonderful stranger I had met two nights ago. My beautiful baby girl was born, and the first thing I remember after everything was Rachel saying, “Hey, beautiful girl.” I swear I can hear her exact tone and voice saying that to my precious daughter. It made my heart melt into a million pieces, and I can still hear it to this day repeating in my head.

She made us feel like parents, and she showed our beautiful girl so much love. She took beautiful photos for us, wrapped her in her blanket, and gave her to me in my arms.

After a couple of minutes, our beautiful girl passed away in her dad’s arms. I felt like my entire world had fallen apart and everything was pointless but then I remembered Rachel with all her encouragement and reminding us how strong we are.

I could not have gotten through any of these challenges and all the anxiety I had going into this grief journey if Rachel wasn’t by my side. I honestly don’t have words, nor can I really wrap my head around how amazing she truly is. I’ve never met anyone so caring and loving, and honestly, I'd never met anyone who can walk into a room with a smile and make all our worries go out the window. She changed my life. She changed my daughter’s life. And most of all she truly made my journey seem less harder than it was before I met this beautiful soul.

She is absolutely amazing, and I just hope every person who has to go through what we did gets to meet a nurse like we did. I pray to God that everybody gets that type of love and compassion.

Thank you, Sanford Birth Place, for hiring such amazing persons to share our grief and birth stories with. You guys are truly amazing people!