Dear NICU mamas,

I saw you and I just want to thank you.

As I walked the halls of Palmetto Health's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to job shadow on October 31st, I saw you. I watched you as you stared at your baby in that oh, so tiny, isolate. I saw you reading halloween books to your 30 week old baby girl through the plastic walls that seemed as if all they were doing were keeping you apart. I saw the tears in your eyes as you looked at the nurse and asked any and all questions about what machine your baby was hooked up to. I heard you ask how long your precious baby boy was going to be in there. I saw you siting and holding your babies, some of you, two at once. I saw the joy, the exhaustion, the strength, the sadness all at once in you. I saw you as you watched me hold your baby's hand while the nurse pricked her tiny foot because her PICC line stopped working and we had to change her I.V. I heard you when I asked how you were and you looked at me and said "scared but thankful". I heard you. I saw you. and I want to thank you. The 1 shift I shadowed in the NICU, I saw you and you, you confirmed my dreams of what I, an 18 year old, wants to do. I want to major in nursing, I want to end up in the NICU as a nurse for a mom like you. Because I saw you, your strength, your tears, your exhaustion, your love, your dedication as you watched your baby fight for its life...I want to be a child's like your's fighting chance. So NICU mamas, I saw you, and I just wanted to thank you.

Thank you for teaching me so much in the short 10ish hour shift I shadowed. Thanks for letting me love your tiny, yet beautiful babies with no medical degree and only a short introduction from the nurse.

whether you saw me or not- I saw you, and I thank you, for impacting me in ways I never imagined you would.

Love,

an 18 year old senior trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life........

or better yet...love,

a future NICU nurse because of you.