Kris and Stephanie were the Care Flight nurses that handed the respective helicopter transports for Ethan (Kris) and Noel (Stephanie). After getting very little information from the Victor Valley Hospital staff, Kris and Stephanie showed up and educated us on what Ethan and Noel were experiencing and how they would be cared for over the coming weeks . . . they provided an immediate calm from the storm with their knowledge and confidence that the boys would be fine.
Yon (holding Ethan in the picture) was the very first nurse we met at Loma Linda - she was Noel's original night nurse post-transport and had an incredibly calm and caring demeanor that really helped us know that the boys were going to get through their struggles. We bonded immediately with Yon and observed her care for our boys as if they were her own . . . the connection was so great that we asked Yon to be our "primary" caregiver for the boys, which meant that she was assigned to one or both of them whenever she was on duty. Once he boys were out of danger, we loved trying to make Yon giggle and chat - we learned that she has three daughters and has become very conscious of cleanliness since working in the NICU - we would arrive each morning after a night with Yon to find a huuuuge bag of dirty laundry, much more than we'd find when we had other nurses taking the night shift with the boys. Yon was simply outstanding in every way - compassionate, competent and efficient . . . she seemed to adore the boys and provided them with tremendous care.
Sharon (holding Noel in this picture) was our first day nurse for Noel and was just as incredible . . . she was outgoing, funny and incredibly positive with a charming smile (which we had to coax out of her for this picture). She framed situations perfectly for us and made the afternoons fly by with fun conversation. We clicked immediately with Sharon and she is the one that actually introduced the term "primary" to us in asking if we'd be open to her being our day primary for the boys (of course we were ok!). Sharon was an incredible help in the final few days and came up to the hospital on our discharge day (her day off) to see the boys head home . . . it was a very good thing, as we needed real help surviving the final day debacle (to be detailed in a later post) and Sharon was phenomenal for us in that crisis. Sharon was a genuinely lovely part of our time in Loma Linda. 
Alison was our second day "primary" and was incredibly fun . . . she has a bubbly, happy personality that brightened up what could be long days in the NICU. We didn't match-up with Alison as often as we would have enjoyed (she was off for most of the boys stay), but when she was assigned to them, the afternoons sailed by . . . she was also great in helping us line up competent, fun nurses for some of the nights and the days when neither Sharon or Alison were working. She's holding Noel in this picture (great smile matches the great personality). Adam and I both felt we could be friends with Alison in our daily life . . . hoping all goes well with her plans to start a family in the near future!
Sandal was our third day nurse and definitely entered our experience at the perfect time. Sandal has worked for the Loma Linda NICU for 30 years and that experience definitely worked to the benefit of our sons. She spearheaded the decision to move Noel off of the dreaded C-PAP, effortlessly got our surrogate approved for daily visits (something that seemed very intimidating to everyone else given the H1N1 precautions taken by the hospital), and really challenged the doctors to move forward with their handing of the boys. She was our champion feeder and probably had the largest direct impact in transitioning the boys from the NICU home. We definitely loved her spunk, candor and tremendous laugh . . . and definitely feel a debt of gratitude to her. Thanks Sandal!
Joan was our second "primary" night nurse behind Yon and was our sternest and best taskmaster/teacher. She really took it upon herself to help "teach us to fish" by showing us how to bathe, feed, burp and swaddle the boys, all of which we'd done with heavy trepidation prior to her shift. We were fortunate enough to have three nights with Joan and we grew in confidence with each "class" - by the end, we definitely felt competent and ready to care for the boys upon discharge. Joan had a great open laugh and a real softness under her tough exterior . . . she was the first person other than us to hold the boys at the same time and definitely saw them as a collective unit vs. individual patients. 
It was amazing coincidence (or kismet) that the name of the sole male nurse we saw in the Loma Linda NICU was named Noel. We learned this on our first night when he was taking care of two other babies that shared a NICU room with Ethan and Noel and he'd look over every time we'd talk about Baby Noel. Nurse Noel had an incredibly serene personality and an easy smile and was an incredibly calming influence. I think Adam and I both felt an incredibly appreciation when we learned that Nurse Noel developed a special affection for Baby Noel, who was really struggling with all of his tubes and wires in the beginning. Even though Nurse Noel wasn't assigned to Baby Noel, when he would hear him crying, he would apparently come over and sing to him, thinking that he needed to hear a masculine voice for comfort (which apparently proved true) . . . it's an amazing thing to know that someone cared for your child enough to give them that kind of love and care. We eventually talked Noel into being our second backup night primary and we were fortunate enough to have had him take care of the boys for two nights, including their final night in the ward. We always had a great time learning about his family (who are all nurses, amazingly) and sharing good stories.There are obviously other nurses that contributed to the boys incredibly journey, but the folks above are the ones we bonded with the most and the ones we'll remember the longest. Brings a smile to our face that they're now an official part of our family story.
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