This Shot of a NICU Nurse Holding a Baby Is Burning Up the Internet for the Most Stunning Reason

Brittany Denise is a NICU nurse in Akron, OH. Earlier this week, she posted a photo of herself holding a baby to explain what it is a NICU nurse does. People who’ve never had a premature baby might think that nurses hold and rock these preemies all day. But, as Denise points out, they do so much more.

“I take care of babies born months too early to live without modern medicine…I assess them, care for them, draw labs, start IVs, and give medications,” she wrote in the caption that accompanied the photo. She teaches new dads how to change their fragile baby’s diaper, places the baby with tubes and wires attached on a new mom’s chest. When the babies thrive, she celebrates with the parents. When the family goes home, Denise and her colleagues on the NICU cheer.

But sometimes these babies don’t go home. And Denise is holding one of them in this photo (with the mom’s permission, of course). And when that happens, Denise writes, “I hug their family members as they walk away from their baby’s room for the last time, hoping my words brought them some comfort. I sometimes cry in the car on my way home, in the shower, or as I try to fall asleep before going into work to take care of other little lives. Yes, my ‘job’ is a NICU Nurse. But it proves time and time again to be so much more.”

You can read her entire post below–it’s heartbreaking and awe-inspiring at the same time.

Next: Pediatrician Worked Around the Clock to Save 3-Lb. Preemie’s Life, But Never Expected This Jaw-Dropping Repayment 30 Years Later

via For Every Mom