My husband and I came into the ER because I was having severe cramping and bleeding at 14 weeks pregnant. This was our first baby to make it this far along, and everything had finally been healthy to date after two prior early losses, so our fear, anxiety, and sadness were palpable. The ER was incredibly busy, so I was sent to Labor & Delivery.

Emily was the first nurse we had who helped assess what was happening. I can't begin to explain how amazing she was. She sat with us and provided so much love, support, and understanding through an immensely scary time. She talked me through contractions I was having that were excruciatingly painful and made sure that we understood everything that was happening around us and to us and our baby.

I was transferred from the assessment center to Labor & Delivery and prepared to potentially deliver our baby we had hoped and prayed for so long. Emily reassured us countless times that we could listen to our baby's heartbeat whenever we wanted. She made a recording of our baby's heartbeat for us so we would have it in case we lost him. After a long night, I was transferred back out of Labor & Delivery and received good news from multiple physicians that our baby was healthy and okay. There was talk of discharge that day or the next, and our baby was still safe.

That evening, I unfortunately started having immense pain again, and my water broke. We were transferred back to Labor & Delivery to prepare for the loss of our son. Emily was our nurse again, and it was such a relief to see her even in such a dark time. I truly believe it made a huge difference to have someone as wonderful as her helping us through this heartbreaking experience.

Emily held me through contractions, through my epidural, and constantly reassured both my husband and me. She provided me with so much dignity by constantly ensuring I was clean. I know that sounds like a small thing, but during this situation it was everything. I was already feeling so much shame and embarrassment, and her giving me that dignity back mattered more than anyone could ever know.

She talked us through every single option available to us for our son once he was born. She took pictures on my phone in case we wanted them. She took extremely gentle care of him and wrapped him up in a tiny blue blanket for us so we could hold him, told us how beautiful he was, and reassured us that we could keep him as long as we wanted. When I needed to rotate positions, she figured out how to get both myself and our baby comfortable so I could lay with him no matter what.

When she left for the day, she came to say goodbye and offered so much love and reassurance that my husband and I would be okay. I could go on for 1,000 more paragraphs about Emily's care for my family during our darkest day and still not be able to convey the gratitude we feel for her care and how life-changing I truly believe it was.