As registered nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit, Taylor and Drew Deras know what it's like to deeply care for the tiny babies in their charge.
But in 2021, the two nurses, who connected while working at the Methodist Women's Hospital NICU in Omaha, Nebraska, and married in 2020, both met a young girl who would ultimately change their lives.
Ella was born prematurely at Methodist Women's in May 2021, at just 23 weeks and 1 day, and Taylor Deras was one of the nurses caring for her.
"I knew I kind of wanted that challenge as a nurse to be able to take care of her and kind of see where things would go and what she would do," the 31-year-old recalled to "Good Morning America."
It would be a long journey for Ella, because as Drew Deras put it, "She was at the very edge of being able to survive, essentially."
For eight months, Ella stayed in the NICU at Methodist Women's Hospital before she was transferred to another NICU for further care.
"She was intubated for multiple months at a time," Taylor Deras said. "She was just very sick. There [were] times where the doctors would tell us, 'Watch her. I don't know if she'll make it through the night tonight.'"
Despite the long odds, Ella overcame multiple health challenges and grew while in the hospital.
"Eventually, she kind of pulled out of it, got better, and started eating from a bottle [and] was on just a little bit of oxygen support," Taylor Deras said.
In December 2021, the Derases learned that Ella had become a ward of the state. They decided they wanted to become Ella's foster parents.
"As she became a ward of the state, I actually turned to Drew and I was like, 'I really do care for her and I want to bring her home and care for her as our child,'" Taylor Deras said. "So it was, I loved her as my patient, and then once we became foster parents, I loved her as my own child."
The couple were approved and became Ella's foster parents from December 2021 to November 2023.
"As a foster parent, it was just like, the guard that you had prior to protect yourself of not falling in love with someone else's child, it just fizzled away, and you're just like, 'OK, this child needs me and I need them,'" Drew Deras, 34, said of opening his heart to Ella.
The Derases never gave up on Ella and were by her side when she was discharged from the hospital on April 7, 2022.
The couple adopted her on Nov. 18, 2023, which also happened to be National Adoption Day.
They called Ella's adoption day "so special" and "a perfect day."
"When the judge said, 'She is now your child,' it was … this is what we've been praying for and what we've been wanting. And it was really like a dream come true," Taylor Deras said.
"It was even more perfect than you could have imagined," Drew Deras added. "It's hard to compare it to anything else. I mean, I'd say like our wedding day is the only one that you could compare it to."
Today, the Derases say Ella, who has a "vibrant" personality, is thriving, and her health continues to improve as she works through weekly speech therapies and other treatments.
"Now, she's walking and talking and meeting developmental milestones that a 2-year-old would do. And she'll start preschool in the fall," Taylor Deras said.
The first-time parents said they feel "lucky" to call Ella their "miracle" daughter.
"I was just like, 'This is so meant to be,' and it worked out in our favor," Taylor Deras said.
"We just feel lucky that it gets to be for the rest of her life," Drew Deras added. "We just love her so much."
For others who are looking to adopt, the Derases offered some encouragement.
"Don't give up during the process because the adoption process is very challenging," Taylor Deras said. "If it's something that's on your heart, I would say go for it and don't steer away, because there are [many] kids that need adoption."
