Shawna was the daytime nurse assigned to us on the day of our discharge from the hospital after 2 days postpartum from the delivery of our first child. Shawna went far beyond the call of duty in caring for me, my wife, and our newborn baby. Three things she did for us really stood out.

Number one: Every few minutes that she was with us, she would think of another piece of advice to help us out as new parents. She would say something like, "Oh! Another pro mom tip: always fluff out the diapers. Remember: ruffles out keeps poop in. Here, let me show you how." She taught us about car seats, thermometers, diaper changes, bulb syringes, when to call the pediatrician, sharp baby nails, calming fussy babies, toothaches, burping, and a million other things, just on top of her head while she was logging something in the computer or doing a fundal massage or giving me painkillers. She was determined not to just do the minimum of what was required to care for us, but to really send us home feeling as confident and ready, and supported as possible, as we embarked on a new chapter.

Number two: Long story short, a kerfuffle with our car seat ended up delaying our discharge time significantly and also resulted in our car being fully packed up to leave before we were actually able to leave. Consequently, when it was actually time for us to leave, our baby was without all of the cute options for her going-home outfit that we had thoughtfully packed. Without missing a beat, Shawna dashed out of the room, scrounged up supplies from the hospital, took scissors to them, and returned with an adorable head-to-toe going-home outfit made entirely of shirts and hats. One hat was folded into another hat to look like a bow. One shirt was upside-down on our baby's legs to look like tights/pants. Another hat had two holes cut out of it and was being worn like little undies/shorts. It's hard to describe, but it was so precious and, again, so beyond her job description.

Number three: After her shift, (I need to emphasize that this was an hour after her shift had ended), Shawna, knowing we were not completely confident with our car seat, and that we had been trying to be discharged for hours, decided not to let the new nurses who we didn't know take over (which may have taken much longer). Instead, she went outside with us in the literal freezing cold (in just her scrubs-no coat!), installed our car seat into our car for us, explained to us exactly how she did it, hugged us both, and sent us on our way home. We were so exhausted at that point that it was really special to be sent home by someone we already knew and trusted and felt comfortable with, instead of having to explain the car seat saga and everything to a new set of nurses and be discharged by someone we didn't know.