Jade and Lee nominate Emma from the RVI in Newcastle

     

In January this year, baby Romeo was born prematurely at 23 weeks and 1 day gestation, weighing just 1lb 3oz. This was the beginning of a long journey for this little man, but he had the support of his parents, Jade Dodds and Lee Blakey, and the team in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.

Thankful for the entire team, Jade and Lee could only nominate one member for our NICU Superhero Award and they chose Staff Nurse, Emma Lisle (AKA Crazy Emma), as their NICU Superhero! Here's what Jade told us about their beautiful boy, their neonatal journey and this special nurse who helped them through such a difficult time:

"Emma was one of the first nurses looking after our little boy, Romeo. He was born at 23 weeks 1 day and this was a terrifying time for us as our son, Miles, was born sleeping last year at 19 weeks 5 days, and Romeo had already tried to make an appearance round about the same time. Luckily I had an emergency stitch fitted which got me to 22 weeks 1 day, then after having it removed, Romeo came exactly a week later. He's our little miracle.

I can't even explain how anxious or scared we were, but Emma just has this presence that makes you feel more relaxed and at ease. She couldn't do enough to help us. She's very thorough and after each ward round she would explain anything we didn't completely understand and answer any questions we had thought of later. One time Emma had Romeo for 3 shifts in a row and on the third shift she said within minutes, "He's not a happy boy today," and got the Doctor to check him over. She knew him so well.

Emma made us a card from Romeo and did his hand and foot prints for us too, it was so thoughtful of her. Things like that we can keep forever but it really helped us at the time too having something of him to keep close to us.

She is a lovely person, always making people smile and laugh whether it's the babies, families, or colleagues on the unit. She always seems to lighten the mood, no matter how down you are feeling and is always happy to help you with anything or to stop you for a quick chat. She is also amazing with the extremely poorly babies and their families and even bereaved families. Amazing NICU Nurse."

Congratulations to Emma, a glowing report! Jade tells us that Romeo is now home and doing well, having been discharged from hospital 6 days before his due date. Take a look at these super cute photos that Jade and Lee shared with us ... it's great to see him looking so good. Our favourite is the tuxedo snap.