NICU Nurse Reunites With Patient From 30 Years Ago While Caring For His Son

The NICU nurse cared for the baby’s father three decades earlier in the same hospital

Baby Zayne Caldwell arrived ten weeks early and has been in the care of NICU nurses at a New Jersey hospital. While there, a surprise reunification happened when Zayne’s father realized he was treated by that same nurse when he was born.

“So as many of you may know, our son was born 10 weeks early at St. Peters hospital and has been in the NICU ever since (he’s doing amazing btw!),” Zayne’s mom Renata Freydin wrote on Facebook. “What some of you may not know is that his father (my amazing fiancee) was also born about 6 weeks early at the same hospital!”

She said her fiance, David Caldwell, brought out his baby book to show her his time in the hospital. “As I was looking through, I came across a picture of him as a baby and a lady holding him. I knew that lady!!” she said. “I immediately asked him who she was and he confirmed that she was the nurse who took care of him during his stay in the NICU.”

Freydin said Caldwell’s mom loved the nurse so much she took a photo of the two together the day he was discharged. “Well, the reason I know her is because I swore she was the nurse that had been taking care of our baby boy for the past three days!” Freydin wrote. What are the odds of that?

“I saw the picture and I knew right away it was nurse Lissa,” Freydin told CNN. “He didn’t believe me and said ‘no way, it’s not possible.'”

She went on to say the couple brought the photo to the hospital during a visit with Zayne and other nurses confirmed it was, in fact, the same nurse, Lissa McGowan. “Yesterday (Valentine’s Day) she was back at work and taking care of our little nugget again so we had to recreate the picture!” Freydin continued. “The past 2 weeks have been filled with worries and uncertainty but we can breathe easy knowing my lil nuggets nurse is the same one that helped the man I love when he was in the same situation.”

The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Jersey is where the reunion took place and where baby Zayne continues to get stronger so he can go home with his parents.

“We have so many babies who cross our paths, and we have had many who say they had a relative here, but it’s never hit so close to home where it is father and son, not for me,” McGowan told My Central Jersey. “It’s been a very nice surprise.”