Zalette Rodriguez arrived just in time to become the first baby born in Long Beach at the Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center at MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach in 2023. Coming into the world at 5lb. and 9 oz. at 3:44am, Zalette is the youngest child of Jaenenne Nunez and Israel Rodriguez, residents of Bellflower.
“It was a unique and special way to ring in the new year,” said Jaenenne Nunez “We didn’t imagine that Zalette would be born at 3:44 a.m., but I guess she was ready to celebrate the new year and we couldn’t be happier.”
In celebration of having the hospital’s first baby of the year, Jaenenne Nunez and Israel Rodriguez received a special “First Baby Basket” — stuffed with onesies, receiving blankets, bathing items, diapers and gifts for the new parents — from the care team at Miller Children’s & Women’s.
Whether a pregnancy is routine or high-risk, the Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center at Miller Children’s & Women’s has experts to care for mom and baby under the same roof. Unique for a hospital, maternal-fetal medicine specialists and neonatologists are on-site 24/7, so if a delivery isn’t routine, the baby is moved just down the hall to the Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to receive specialized care.
The NICU exclusively serves the needs of incredibly premature newborns, should the need arise. It includes the largest Small Baby Center in the region that cares for babies less than 2 lbs. and an Extremely Low Birth Weight Program for extremely premature babies born at less than 28 weeks gestation or weighing less than 1,000 grams.
MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach was recognized as ‘High Performing’ in Maternity Care (Uncomplicated Pregnancy) by U.S. News & World Report, making it the only children’s and women’s hospital in Los Angeles and Orange Counties to receive this recognition. Miller Children’s & Women’s is unique as it’s the only hospital of its kind in the region bringing together maternity and pediatric specialty services under one roof to keep the family unit connected — which is crucially important when high-risk maternity care, pediatric specialty and neonatal intensive care are needed by mom and baby.
With exceptional programs, expert care teams and high-quality care, more than 5,500 families trust Miller Children’s & Women’s to safely deliver their babies every year.