Singing in the NICU: A nurse’s voice gave parents faith when they needed it most

ORLANDO, Fla. — On the morning their newborn daughter was scheduled for surgery, Dan and Leilani Rafter stood beside her hospital crib, unsure of what to do with their fear.

Just five days earlier, they had finally welcomed their daughter, Scottie — their rainbow baby — after so many losses. Now, they were preparing to hand her over for a procedure to remove a golf ball-sized tumor from her mouth discovered during Leilani’s 35-week pregnancy scan.

The anxiety and uncertainty were overwhelming. So they did the one thing that had carried them through their hardest days. They turned to the Lord, played one of their favorite songs from church on their phone and started to sing in worship.

Then they noticed something. Their nurse, Caitlin Combs, was softly singing along.

For Dan and Leilani, that small act shifted everything.

“That moment reminded us that the Lord has been with us the whole time. He never left. He never wavered,” Leilani said.

The family, with Caitlin by their side, continued worshipping as they walked Scottie to the operating room. And again, it was Caitlin’s steadfast faith that gave them reassurance.

“I was just crying to her, ‘I don’t think I can do this. How are we supposed to let our baby go under anesthesia?’”

“‘And Caitlin said, ‘God’s got her.’”

The surgery was a success. Scottie would spend two weeks in the NICU before going home, growing stronger each day.

What stays with Dan and Leilani isn’t only the medical care their daughter received but the way they were cared for, too.

“When we picked where we were going to deliver, it was AdventHealth for Children in a heartbeat,” said Leilani, who’s also a nurse. “The whole-person, faith-based care is what we wanted for our daughter.”

“We knew she was going to have the best medical care. It was our nurse Caitlin’s faith that made the difference for us.”

That commitment — caring for the body, mind and spirit — shapes how nurses like Caitlin support families that come to AdventHealth for Children.

“You’re treating the whole person,” Caitlin said. “It’s not just them being here because of an illness. Some people need more than that.”

For Dan and Leilani, they felt they had been guided to the right place at the right time.

“Everything was so organized by God,” Dan said. “God not only chose the team of doctors, he chose the hospital.”

Scottie is now nearing her first birthday. And although those frightening early days in the NICU still feel close, one memory permeates the rest: a quiet song and the moment one nurse’s faith gave them hope when they needed it most.

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