New Brunswick Nurse Cared For Both Father, Son As Preemies

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick has now had the distinction of caring for not just a premature newborn baby boy — but also his father 34 years ago, when he was also born premature.

Edison resident Renata Freydin delivered her baby boy, Zayne, at St. Peter's ten weeks ahead of his due date. He entered this world weighing a mere three pounds, nine ounces. She and her fiance, David Caldwell, chose to deliver the baby at St. Peter's, the Catholic hospital in New Brunswick, in part because of its neonatal unit for early babies; her labor started at 29 weeks.

It also just so happens that Caldwell was born in that same hospital, and he also arrived early. But Caldwell said it never occurred to him that the same nurse who cared for him more than three decades ago might be still working in that same NICU.

"I came early, too. My mom had diabetes and high blood pressure when I was born," said Caldwell. "I actually had respiratory failure when I was born, and my mom couldn't even see me for the first few days. My mom said she was just praying over me constantly when I was on the CPAP machine. Whenever I would look back at my baby photos, I always asked who this lady was. My mom always said, 'That lady was such a great nurse. She helped take care of you.'"

That nurse is Lissa McGowan, 61, and she has been working at St. Peter's for her entire career. She was 23 years old when she was first hired.

It was mom Freydin who made the connection, while looking through photos in her fiance's baby book after the birth of their son.

"She asked me to get my baby book out of storage. She ran into the room screaming, 'Do you know who this is?! Do you know who this is?!'," laughed Caldwell. "We brought (the photo) in and verified it with some of the nurses here. They said yes, that's her, that's Lissa."

Sure enough, it was the exact same nurse who cared for Caldwell when he was a baby.

"I didn't put it together, not in the least," said McGowan. "The dad never even mentioned, 'Oh, I was a preemie or I was here in the NICU, or even I was born in this hospital."

The couple came in last Friday and surprised McGowan with the photo.

"I laughed when they told me because this guy is huge," she said, referring to Caldwell in present day. "But then they showed me the photo of me holding David on his day of discharge; he was a nice, healthy five-pound baby ready to go home. It was something his mom had kept in his baby book all these years later."

Caldwell's mother passed away in 2004. For him, it was as if she had handpicked an angel to help care for her newborn grandson.

"I feel my mom sent her," he told Patch.

"Friday was actually a very emotional day," said McGowan. "He just remembered how his mom always spoke highly of this one nurse. It's his mother's way of being there for the birth of her grandchild."

McGowan said she's been at NICUs across the state, but "St. Peter's has a feeling. We have a family feeling and a team vibe. We're a a big unit with a lot of staff and it's just a feeling of having each others' backs. I think our families feel it, too."

McGowan will be 62 in March and she credited her youthful look with "always washing my face before bed and trying to stay positive."