Brittany Denise is a neonatal nurse, where she spends her days caring for newborn babies who are born premature or sick.
However, while many assume that her job is just cuddling and celebrating new babies, there is a heartbreaking other side to her role.
So, to help enlighten people about the incredible work carried out by NICU nurses, Brittany wrote a beautiful message on social media.
In the moving Facebook post, Brittany explained: “Most everyone knows I am a nurse! An NICU Nurse. Many people think this means feeding and rocking babies, which occasionally I get the privilege to do :)
“…but my job entails so much more.”
She then penned a truly beautiful, and very moving, account of her time working with newborn and premature babies.
It reads in full:
I take care of babies born months too early to live without modern medicine…
Placed on ventilators with central lines and life saving medications.
I assess them, care for them, draw labs, start IVs, and give medications.
I teach a new dad how to change his fragile baby’s diaper for the first time.
I place this baby on their moms chest (often with many tubes and wires attached) after she has not yet been able to hold them for days, sometimes weeks.
*I comfort that momma as she watches her tiny fragile baby go through more pokes, prods, and procedures than most of us will ever even know.
I celebrate with parents every milestone: every good blood gas, gram gained, tube removed.*
I rejoice in the day parents get to bring their baby home after spending months inside the walls of the NICU.
I witness miracles. I get to see little lives come back and beat insurmountable odds. But sometimes I don’t…
I help to resuscitate babies when their hearts stop and little bodies simply can’t take any more.
I beat myself up trying to think what we could have done better or different when all medical options have been exhausted.
*I hand those sweet little lives to their parents as they take their last breaths when science and medicine is no longer enough.
I give them medication to make them comfortable in their last moments here on earth.*
I help make molds and keepsakes that their family will cherish forever.
I share memories with the family and we laugh and cry in the midst of it all. The NICU becomes their home.
I hug their family members as they walk away from their baby’s room for the last time, hoping my words brought them some comfort.
I sometimes cry in the car on my way home, in the shower, or as I try to fall asleep before going into work to take care of other little lives.
I lean on my coworkers. Those other NICU nurses I’m so blessed to work besides. I look to them for knowledge, wisdom, and support.
Yes, my “job” is a NICU Nurse. But it proves time and time again to be so much more.
The post has been shared almost 4000 times, generating a huge number of comments from social media users.
One wrote: “Such a moving picture and article. I'm awestruck by what you do everyday. You are truly a beautiful person inside and out.”
Another added: “You are the best nurse those babies could have or anyone for that matter.”
And, to those who questioned Brittany’s use of photograph, she had this to say: “This picture was most definitely shared with this momma’s permission as she loves to share her son’s journey and the fighter that he was!
“This picture was taken after he left us here on earth and it was such a blessing to be there with him in these moments. I know his other NICU nurses in the background feel the same way!”
The image was snapped by Ashley Trainer-Smas.
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