Mrs Gamble said she had spent so long in the Dunedin Hospital Nicu, some of the babies she cared for early in her career had come in with their own bundle of joys.
"I used to tell parents, ‘I'm old enough to be your mother, do this’.
"Now I say, ‘I'm old enough to be your grandmother, do this’."
Over the past 40 years, Mrs Gamble has seen the job change in many ways.
She said when she started "28-weekers" made her sweat. However, as years go on, the viability age has dropped lower and lower.
"Now 23-weekers make us sweat."
Often, Mrs Gamble was spotted in the street by the parents of her small former patients.
"I was crossing the road in Maori Hill and someone wound down their window and said, ‘I remember you, Sarah, you looked after my boy’.
"He was sitting next to her, and he had a beard ... I told him ‘you haven’t changed a bit’."
One of her patients was the child of Crusaders and All Blacks prop Tamaiti Williams, whose daughter was born at 27 weeks.
Mrs Gamble described Mr Williams as a "giant teddy bear".
He left the nurses a signed shirt, along with a picture of his daughter, which is hung on the ward’s wall.
Over her career, Mrs Gamble also taught at Otago Polytechnic while in the Nicu as a casual worker.
She was also a member of the transport team before transport teams existed.
Made up of nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists, the teams provided critical care for premature and sick infants during emergency transport by road or air.
"I used to get rung at all hours of the day and night and have to leap out of bed and rush off."
Mrs Gamble also organised the first Dunedin neo-natal conference in 1993.
Despite being "not quite 65", she had decided "the time has come" and she was ready to join her husband in retirement.
She said she would spend her time "pottering around the garden", but would miss the babies and the "fantastic" people she worked with.
However, Mrs Gamble could not completely let go and would stay on as a casual Nicu nurse.
"I'll probably come in if they're desperate," she said.
