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The night before the surgery, Benitez was with the girls when their mother, Liliya, handed them over to the anesthesia team for sedation and intubation. "Mom was holding the girls and she was very tearful, and I know exactly what she was going through," recounted Benitez. "She knew that one or potentially both of the girls could die in surgery the next day." Benitez had a portrait of the girls' family hung on the operating room wall and after the girls were wheeled in and their mother had kissed them good-bye, Benitez spoke to the entire surgical team. "I stopped everybody and I told them, 'These are our little girls and there is a family praying for them on the other side and we can't lose focus of that,'" she said, then instructed everyone to close their eyes and take five deep breaths. "There was complete silence, you could have heard a pin drop." At 11:45 a.m., Dr. Granger Wong made his first surgical incision, setting into motion the thousands of tiny steps that filled the com- plex surgery. Those who were in the room described a palpable tension. There was no music, and often the only sound was that of the machines. "You hear like the pulse ox beeping, you hear all the monitor lines, you hear everyone in soft whispers, and you kind of hear your heart- beat because your heart is beating so fast," said Villote. Peterson said during the operation, it became apparent that the girls were losing a great deal of blood, "It seemed like the babies were losing as much blood as they were getting infused." The nurses stayed in constant communication with the blood bank, anticipating the team's needs. Peterson credits her years playing college and then professional basketball in Europe for giving her the focus to assist in the high- pressure and long hours of surgery. "There are moments that are really intense," said Peterson. "There are times when you want to just take in your environment; you have to know how to deal with stress." Benitez said the bleeding went on for hours and everyone recog- nized that the girls could suffer cardiac arrest at any moment. "The girls have known heart defects," said Benitez. "The risk for an air embolism was pretty big as well for the type of surgery they were having, and that could lead to a full cardiac arrest." Evans said that when the surgery hit a critical point, she watched in amazement as Dr. Kiarash Shahlaie used a No. 11 blade to work around the sinus, a critical channel that carries blood away from the brain. "It is a blade to be reckoned with, and he is making these tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny nicks to dissect around the vessel. It was a daunting moment." For Evans, it is her faith and the power of prayer that has allowed her to work in the high-stress, life-and-death environment of the operating room for so many years. "I am going to do the best that I can and what I have been trained to do," she said, but ultimately she believes the outcome is beyond the hands of all those highly trained individuals in the operating room. "Honestly, I began praying the moment I knew I was going to be involved in this situation. I prayed for everybody involved, the family, and I know they were doing the same for us." While the nurses worked in shifts, and gurneys lined the hallway so that they could sleep during their breaks, the nurses said every- one was too wired up to sleep. "You are just full of adrenaline and you want to be in there for the team," said Villote. In fact, it fell to Evans to serve as a gentle bouncer during the operation, asking those who were not needed in the operating room to step out until their services were required. After 20 hours in the operating room, Dr. Edwards called out "cranial separation." The news was met by cheers and applause from the team. Benitez was called on to record the time. "I looked to my right and they had tears in their eyes and on my left they had tears in their eyes, and I finally choked it out, 'It's 3:28,'" said Benitez. The entire surgery ultimately lasted a total of 24 hours. When the girls were stable, Benitez called their mother to let her know her two little girls, now in separate beds, were doing well. "She couldn't talk and then she just broke down," recalled Benitez. In the morning, Micaela and Abigail were brought into their room at the pediatric intensive care unit. Benitez said that with the morning sun hitting their faces, the girls looked like angels. "I am incredibly proud and feel incredibly blessed to have had such a strong team," said Benitez. "I think it goes to the heart of what nursing is all about: It is collaboration and respect for all the disciplines and being able to coordinate all the moving pieces for such a surgery." And nurses do it all with compassion, she added. At press time, the girls were both doing well and expected to be discharged home before the holidays. "Mom calls me 'my Aida' and I call the girls 'my miracle babies.' It is that healing touch that nurses bring. Only the nurses bring that." Rachel Berger is a communications specialist for National Nurses United. 22 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 "In action they are amazing to watch. On training days, they would have all these questions, but I would tell them, 'You guys, you know what you are doing! You have to convince yourself that you are ready,' and they were. They had it."