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As babies, Rachel Gacioch and Hayden Sackey spent three months in a newborn intensive care unit at the same time in Dearborn, Michigan.
Last month, 28 years after they were discharged, they returned to Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital to thank a NICU nurse who helped care for them. They also had some exciting news to share: They'd recently gotten married.
Nearly three decades after their mothers bonded and became good friends during a stressful touch-and-go time with new preemies, Rachel and Hayden were married on Sept. 7.
Their romance bloomed about 10 years ago after Rachel - then living with her family in Indiana - agreed to go on a date with Hayden. Although the pair hadn't been in touch since they were in grade school, their mothers still talked and often visited each other. They lived about a four-hour drive apart.
In 2014, Audra Sackey, Hayden's mom, said she'd mentioned that Hayden needed a date for his high school senior prom, and Rachel's mom, Sherry Krambeck, suggested that he ask her daughter.
Krambeck passed along her daughter's phone number, and Hayden called her.
"Rachel said that first night they were on the phone for hours," Krambeck said. "Pretty soon, they were texting each other constantly."
She agreed to be his prom date.
"We clicked off the bat and got to know each other while FaceTiming," said Rachel, 28. "After the prom, even when we both went away to college, we kept our relationship strong. We always knew that we wanted to be with each other, no matter how long it took."
"Our relationship always felt natural - nothing ever felt forced," added Hayden, 28. "We were just planning to hang out and go to the prom, but it honestly felt like something special from the start."
They both had a rocky beginning into the world.
On July 9, 1996, Hayden was born three months early, weighing 1.5 pounds.
"They didn't really know why - I was told it might have been a placenta problem," said Audra Sackey, 57. "He was my first baby, and I couldn't hold him for 10 days because he was so tiny. It was a really hard time, and we wondered if he was going to make it."
Ten days after Hayden was born, Sackey said she saw another new mother walking around the NICU looking distressed. Sherry Krambeck had given birth to Rachel on July 19 at 31 weeks.
"It's scary in there, and I knew the ropes at that point," said Sackey. "So I befriended her right away. We had a lot of time to talk and get to know each other while we were there with our babies."
Krambeck was on bed rest for a month after developing preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication. Rachel was born with fluid on her brain - a condition known as hydrocephalus - and she weighed 2 pounds, 7 ounces. Surgeons gave her a shunt to drain the fluid.
"We supported each other through all of the highs and lows," said Krambeck, 55.
"Our husbands and families were also there for us, but as moms, we understood each other because we were in each other's shoes," Sackey said. "In the NICU, it's often two steps forward, one step back. We were able to lean on each other if we needed a shoulder to cry on."
After their babies were released from the NICU, the pair kept in touch. Although they lived 40 minutes apart at the time, "we'd have playdates and birthday parties with the kids, and we'd go to the Halloween party that the hospital put on every year," Sackey said.
When Krambeck and her family moved in 2007 to Lowell, Indiana, their friendship continued.
"Even though our kids hadn't seen each other since the move, it seemed like an obvious solution to say, 'Hey, Rachel can go to the prom with Hayden,'" Krambeck said.
Rachel said she felt comfortable after chatting with Hayden over FaceTime, but she wanted to connect with him at least once before the dance.
"I wanted to see him in person first, so neither one of us would feel awkward," she said, noting that she traveled with her mom and sister to Michigan and planned to surprise Hayden.
While she was getting ready to go to Hayden's house, though, Rachel said she suddenly felt dizzy and passed out.
When Hayden learned what happened to Rachel, he rushed to the hospital.
"I remember thinking, 'I want this guy to be my boyfriend,'" said Rachel, who was treated for dehydration.
"The next day, we had pizza at my house, and we both felt really relaxed and happy," Hayden said. "I knew it would be easy to be in a relationship with Rachel."
Shortly after he and Rachel started dating, they posed with photos of themselves as preemies for a hospital fundraiser. They kept their long distance relationship going when Rachel went to Purdue University Northwest in Westville, Indiana, to get a bachelor's degree in nursing, and Hayden studied to get an online bachelor's degree in turf science from Pennsylvania State University.
In December 2022, Hayden proposed to his fellow NICU graduate on a covered bridge in the Christmas town of Frankenmuth, Michigan. And this October, about six weeks after their wedding, they decided to wear bride and groom costumes and make a Halloween visit to the hospital where it all started.
One of their nurses, Valerie Halt-Williams, was still working in the NICU, and local news station WXYZ Detroit covered the reunion.
"We were so excited and happy for them, and to see them today as happy and healthy newlyweds, it's just that much more heartwarming," Halt-Williams said. "This is why we become nurses."
Rachel said she was inspired by her personal history to go into nursing. She now works as an RN, while Hayden is an assistant equipment manager at a golf course. The couple now lives in Northville, Michigan, about 30 minutes from where they were born.
"We feel really thankful - we wouldn't be where we are today without the nurses and doctors who cared for us, and our moms who kept in touch," Rachel said.
"I want to tell anyone with a NICU baby to have hope and know that good things can happen," she said. After all, it's where she met her future husband.