Santa’s little helpers: The nurses of Moncton’s NICU

Nurses at The Moncton Hospital have become Santa’s little helpers for families who are spending the holidays in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

They’re helping to make a baby’s first Christmas a memorable one even when the family is not able to go home.

Jesse Brayall and his partner Tanna Wright have spent 67 days travelling back and forth between their home and the specialized care unit.

READ MORE: High number of babies being admitted to N.B. neonatal intensive care units

The couple’s son, Kazen, was born in October weighing approximately 1.1 kilogram.

“It gets pretty hard after a while being in a hospital,” said Brayall.

“It’s even harder knowing that we can’t take Kazen home for our baby’s first Christmas.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's even harder knowing that we can't take Kazen home for our baby's first Christmas."

Enter the nurses at the NICU unit.

They’ve gone out of their way to bring Christmas to the families that will be spending the holidays by their babies’ beds.

Tucked away in a back room, nurses have been busy packing up gifts and making homemade cards addressed to mothers and daughters from their newborns.

“It is important for those babies to celebrate their first Christmas even if they are not home with their parents,” says Susan Coish, a nurse at the NICU unit.

WATCH: Neonatal intensive care unit provides hope for families

3:08 Neonatal intensive care unit provides hope for families

Coish’s own daughter was born premature and spent time in the unit over Christmas.

“I know what the parents feel like, I know what it feels like not to be able to wake up in your homes with your baby,” said Coish.

She hopes that their efforts help in some small way.

Each family is given handmade cards with pictures of their baby inside that the nurses took in secret.

“The Christmas cards have been really awesome,” said Brayall.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The Christmas cards have been really awesome," said Brayall.

Although it may not be the one gift all these moms and dad are wishing for.

“For him to actually go home would be the best gift that pretty much anybody could ask for,” said Brayall.

READ MORE: The inside of a NICU is a ‘tough world people are totally unaware of’

But these pictures taken with Santa are something to be treasured long after Mom and Dad and baby finally get to go home.

“Hopefully, shortly after the new year, we will be taking him home — that is what my hope is,” said Wright.