A late afternoon, a beautiful accordion music came out from the NICU hallway.

Working in a “pod” for babies, I could not help to peek to see where the music came from: That is Her! My co-worker!

I want to call her the charming lady! Or here, in short, I would refer her as Ms. Charm. She was taking care of a baby girl with severe cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis which the doctors have the prognosis that she would not be able to live. She has a tracheotomy and on mechanical ventilator. She has been in the NICU since she is born and now she is 4 months old!

Knowing the prognosis, the NICU stuff are trying to give the little girl a fulfilled enjoyable life as long as she lives. There are several primary nurses taking care of her everyday so that she can have a “family” around her all the time. Ms. Charm is one of the “family members“. That day, she took her accordion to the unit and played the music outside of the little girl’s room for her. And on the hallway, lady G. is dancing with the rhythm while she is stocking all the C-lockers in the unit.

What a charming evening in the NICU!

I have only worked here in the NICU for a year, I do not know much about anyone. With the difficulty of the language and the different background, it even make it harder for me to really get involved in the culture. But for my limited observation, I am touched by the compassionated care and the loving, caring hearts the NICU stuff have!

I admire Ms. Charm not only for her love care giving to the babies but also for her self improvement, her truthfulness, her caring characters, her versatility and her confidence.
I remembered when I first met her as a student, she was in a blue hospital scrub dress with a book in her hand. She introduced her self as “New for the NICU” and had the same preceptors as I did and commented that my preceptors are ‘nice team”. Later on, I always seen her has book in hand and have bright smile on face when she talk to people.

She is physically fit and ride her bicycles to work most time. She is fluent in English and Spanish. For her Spanish language improvement, she even took couple months off work and went to Mexico to practice. After she came back, she went on and passed her interpreter examination! She also can speak some Chinese as well!

She is not only a INCU nurse, she is also a lactation consult certified so she really can help the nursing Mom for breast feeding. I appreciate one time she helped me for a nursing Mom and I learned how to help them at the same time from her. It is very important to be able to help the nursing Mon as a NICU nurse. The babies are immature and the mom are mostly young. They both need to learn how to make the breast feeding work.

Recently, Ms. Charm is getting oriented to be the delivery support team member. The book in her hand change to the NRT text book and she is trying to attend every delivery! Even at her dinner break, she would never want to miss any single opportunity to learn. Yesterday, I personally seen how she admitted a new baby. As a new NRT nurse, she was so organized and within two hours, she got everything done! I am so proud of her and I wish someday I can act just like her!

She is the person I really admire, as a nurse, as a co-worker, as a person.