A NICU baby was deemed a ward of the state. Then her nurses adopted her

Taylor and Drew Deras are certain that God masterminded their incredible story.

“There’s no other way,” Taylor, 31, tells TODAY.com.

It all began in 2017 when Taylor and Drew, both registered nurses, began working the overnight shift in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Methodist Women’s Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.

Over late-night breaks in the cafeteria, Taylor and Drew bonded over their love of family, and what started as friendship blossomed into a romance. Now the couple, who tied the knot in 2020, have created a family of their own after adopting a baby girl who came into their lives as a patient.

When Ella was admitted into the NICU in May 2021, she was just 23-weeks-old and weighed 1 pound, 2 ounces. A full-term pregnancy is between 39 and 40 weeks.

“She was very, very sick,” Taylor says, noting that Ella was immediately intubated and needed multiple blood transfusions.

“There were good days, and then there were days I would leave work and get in the car with Drew and say, ‘I’m not going to see her again. She’s going to pass away tonight,’” Taylor recalls.

By the summer of 2021, Ella was gaining strength and Taylor was beginning to worry about where Ella would go after she was discharged. Taylor says Ella’s biological mom was no longer visiting.

“She was looking for housing and bouncing around from job to job,” Taylor says. To fill the void, Taylor, who had grown “extremely attached” to Ella, made the infant a priority.

“I would read to her and hold her for hours. It was so important to me that she felt loved,” Taylor says.

Drew, like Taylor, also felt a special connection with Ella.

“In my downtime, I’d go and see her and feed her a bottle, and I’d talk to her a lot,” he says. There are only two male nurses in the NICU and Drew wanted Ella to hear a “different kind of voice.”

In December 2021, when courts deemed Ella a ward of the state, the Derases reached out to her social worker about fostering.

Not only had Taylor and Drew fallen deeply in love with Ella, they were terrified about what would happen to a medically fragile child in the foster care system. Ella has a tracheostomy, a surgically created hole in her windpipe that provides an alternative airway for breathing. She also eats through a feeding tube.

“When Ella’s biological mom heard we were interested in fostering, she said, ‘I want Ella to go to you,’” Taylor says. “She trusted us with her."

Shortly after, the Derases were approved as Ella’s foster parents, and in April 2022, they brought Ella home. It was then that she started "interacting better with adults" and "doing better with bottles," according to Drew. That same year, Ella’s biological mother determined that it was in Ella’s best interest that she remain with Derases.

“She looked at us and she said, ‘You guys are the best thing for her. She knows you as Mom and Dad and I can’t handle all these medical things she needs now and maybe forever,’” Taylor says. “Then she said, ‘I’m willing to sign over my rights to you.’”

“It was so mature and selfless of her,” Taylor continues. “She loves Ella and wanted to give her the best life possible.”

Ella’s adoption was finalized on Nov. 18, 2023. More than 40 family members and hospital staff were present to witness the monumental moment.

“The courtroom was just filled with so much emotion and happiness,” Taylor says. She and Drew were also overcome with pure relief.

“It had been two and half years of not knowing where Ella would go or if she would be safe,” Taylor says.

Finally, they could exhale. Ella was officially their daughter.

“We had the same judge throughout the whole process and she watched Ella go from a sick little girl to a girl that’s walking,” Taylor says. “She made a comment to mine and Drew’s parents about how they should be so proud of what we accomplished.”

Ella provided some comic relief on the emotional day.

“At the very end, the judge announced, ‘From this day forward, you will be Ella Marie Deras,’ and Ella goes, ‘Yay!’” Drew says. “It was just so well timed. It was almost like she was telling everyone around her, ‘You can relax now.’”

The Derases chose to keep the name Ella’s biological mom had chosen for her as a tribute to her selflessness.

Today, Ella is vibrant 2 year old, who never shies away from a challenge. Drew says doctors are hopeful that her tracheotomy will be removed in the next few months.

“Ella is so sweet and smart and determined,” Taylor says. “She could easily be like, ‘I don’t want to breathe on my own, I don’t want to eat on my own,’ but she wants to do them. She wants to go to all the therapy appointments, and Drew and I are just so proud of her.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com