NICU nurse treating premature newborn stunned after discovering her surreal connection with the baby's father 30 years ago
Some coincidences might feel no less than a special sign. A man experienced such a meaningful event after his son's premature birth. The dad, David Caldwell, found a surprising connection with his son's NICU nurse after looking through his baby book, and he was thrilled about it. His first child, Zayne Alexander Caldwell, was born in January 2020, 10 weeks before the due date. David was also born premature and had spent time at the same NICU as his son back in 1986, per Good Morning America.
Zayne weighed just three pounds at birth and was admitted to Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. David was born premature, too and was treated at the same place, so he thought of looking at his own baby book. "I got the baby book out because I wanted to compare photos of me and Zayne as babies and in the NICU," David, a wedding photographer, remarked. He was looking at the photos with his fianceé, Renata Freydin, when he took a closer look at one of the photos and realized something important. An NICU nurse, Lissa McGowan, was holding David on the day he was discharged from the hospital. His late mom wanted to take a picture of her baby with her favorite nurse.
Freydin recognized McGowan as the nurse who had been taking care of Zayne in the NICU. "We brought the [photo] in and two of the other nurses confirmed that it was [McGowan]. And my fiancé lost it and was like, 'I told you it was her,'" David revealed. The man was also stunned by the information. "It’s 33 years later and this does not happen every day. She was the only nurse in my baby book. My baby book came apart and the photo stayed in there." The parents patiently waited till the nurse's next shift on Valentine's Day to tell her about their special connection and she was completely surprised, too.
"I have never had this happen before. It’s kind of unusual having your preemie come back after 34 years ... but to have a dad come in and be the dad of a preemie is a whole other story," McGowan remarked. The woman had started her career as a nurse at the hospital back in 1981. She was a part of the team of nurses who admitted Zayne to the hospital and looked after him for three days after the birth. She also tried to calm the nervous dad, but didn't know that he had been her patient as a baby. "On any given day, there are 20 nurses working in the unit. Just to be in the area that he was admitted to and being on that side of the room, everything kind of lined up to put us together."
David, who lost his mom back in 2004, looked at the turn of events as a sign that his late mom had been looking out for his family. He had asked his mom about the photo with the nurse as a boy. "She was like, 'Oh, this woman was so nice. She was so great. She just reassured me every day that you would be fine.' This happening is like a way of telling me that my mom is looking over me and my baby." He added, "I know my mom is watching down on me and her grandson and making sure that we’re in good hands and God is watching over us. It’s just a really emotional thing." The baby recovered well after being in the NICU for quite a few weeks.
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