Rayna Wells, RN

My wife, K, and I would like to commend Rayna Wells. K went into preterm labor at 23 weeks and 5 days. At 6:57 PM, our daughter, S, was born at 24 weeks and 2 days gestation. It was the worst few days of our lives, facing countless unknowns about our daughter and her condition. We had been trying for 5+ years to have children and had come to terms that it wasn't going to happen and had started to plan our lives accordingly, but we found out we were finally going to become parents.

The week this all happened, we were planning on going to get a car seat and stroller that weekend and had just started letting ourselves get excited. The doctors told us the odds of survival for micro preemies and the complications that S could face. We were at the lowest point in our lives after hearing the incredible odds our little girl would have to face. S was transferred to the NICU at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. We met Rayna there when she was our daughter's nurse and instantly knew she was an incredibly special person. The hardest part of being there is feeling like we cannot be parents in the traditional sense. We feared hurting her or doing something wrong.

Rayna guided us through how to care for her and encouraged us to be involved in everything that we could. She would say "This is your baby and I want you to feel like she is yours". We were expecting it to be months before we could even hold S, but within twelve days we both got to hold her even though she was intubated and on an oscillator ventilator because of Rayna. She helped us find joy through the fear and pain we were feeling for the first time that day. The worst days of our lives quickly became the best days of our lives thanks in large part to her help.

We quickly asked Rayna to be S's primary nurse, and she accepted. She worked on Mother's Day, and we came into the unit to see she had made handprint and footprint cards for K "from S" for Mother's Day. K and I both said that we were sorry that she couldn't spend the day with her son. Rayna replied that it was okay; she would see him tomorrow all day, and that it brought her so much joy that she could be here for K's first Mother's Day.

S is now extubated and on a bubbler CPAP! Our lives are forever changed by the extraordinary care Rayna and the entire NICU staff have given both S and us. Saying thank you for all the help we have received always seems to fall flat because it just doesn't seem like enough. A DAISY Award is a great honor for nurses (my wife K has been a nurse for twelve years), and it is the least we can do to thank Rayna for her help and compassion.