A party was held at a South Florida hospital to reunite former young patients with those who cared for them in their earliest days.<\/p>\n
Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach held its annual Preemie Party to bring together once-premature babies and the NICU doctors and nurses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to see parents, kids, now some of them grown up, and some of them have even been in medical school and are physicians already, so this is a celebration of life,\u201d said Tony Adams, Chief of NICU at Mount Sinai.<\/p>\n
Doctor Ignacio Zabaleta recalled how the now-grown-up former patients were born with a slew of issues that doctors worked hard to resolve.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these had life-threatening problems and took a lot of work to get them to survive and to see them healthy, grown up, the parents happy with the outcome, it\u2019s wonderful for us, it makes everything we do worthwhile,\u201d said Zabaleta.<\/p>\n
The joyful event featured face painting and a sing-along to celebrate families and the medical team.<\/p>\n
Parents of these former patients were also in attendance to say thank you to those who saved their child\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really made an impact on our lives, so happy to be here celebrating with them, and the kids celebrating for the rest of the time that we\u2019re here,\u201d said Lindsay Baxt.<\/p>\n
One of those parents is Lindsay, who on Valentine\u2019s Day 2023 gave birth to Spencer at just 25 weeks. Spencer was born weighing just under two pounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn environment where there\u2019s a lot of trauma, and a lot of hardship to come out of that,\u201d said Lindsay.<\/p>\n
The process was difficult, Lindsay said, recalling that Spencer spent over three months in the NICU.<\/p>\n
But now, three years later, she is healthy and thriving. For Lindsay, that means the whole world, and she thanks those at Mount Sinai for the help.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, getting to reunite with the nurses and the doctors that helped care for her during her time in the NICU, it was really meaningful. I mean, she made a complete recovery and is now a thriving three-year-old, so being able to be here with her as a healthy, happy child is really impactful for us,\u201d said Lindsay.<\/p>\n
Lindsay said she\u2019s made meaningful connections with other parents who also went through the stress of having their child in the NICU and was happy to see them all reunited with their healthy children.<\/p>\n
Doctors said the annual reunion is wonderful and gives them motivation to continue saving lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a pleasure to be able to do what we do. Everybody thinks, well, it is a lot of work, but it\u2019s more the satisfaction of us seeing these babies when they come back, that is like \u2014 you can\u2019t buy that,\u201d said Zabaleta.<\/p>\n
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