Desert Regional sees record eight sets of twins in its NICU
Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs set a hospital record with eight sets of twins currently filling more than half the bassinets in the hospital’s 30-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Officials said the multiple twin marathon started in October when Faviola Hernandez brought Rogelio and Exequiel into the world. The brothers were born very early, at 24 weeks, and required NICU care.
Since then, doctors and nurses at the Women & Infants Center at Desert Regional have cared for 10 sets of twins, with eight of those pairs requiring treatment in Desert Regional’s NICU.
“I’ve been here 16 years, and never seen this many twins born in this short of a time. We’ve had a few twins come in waves, but this is something special,” said Missy Martignoni, RN, a clinical manager of perinatal services in Desert Regional’s Women & Infants Center.
The Women & Infants Center operates Coachella Valley’s highest level Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for premature infants and those who need specialized care. Two sets of twins involved deliveries at other hospital facilities and were then transferred to Desert Regional’s NICU.
“It’s like our holiday packages came early,” Maggie Stutz, director of the Women & Infants Center said.
Kelly Snyder, a registered nurse in the NICU, said she has seen three to four sets of twins at the same time in her 20 years at Desert Regional, but never this many.
“This is a lot,” Snyder said. “Some of the twin sets arrived born on the same day – within hours of one another – and had us all seeing double."
Yecenia Lopez Perez, who delivered the most recent set of twins at Desert Regional on Wednesday, after being airlifted from Blythe, said the Dec. 14 birth of Santiago and Damian weighing in at 3-pounds was a Christmas miracle.
“They were born two days after my birthday,” said his father, Jakob Brown. “I feel like I’ve been blessed twice.”
Faviola Hernandez would agree, as her sons have grown from one pound at birth to a little over five pounds today. She praised her NICU nurses for helping her, and her babies, through a scary time. They even made Rogelio and Exequiel some Christmas ornaments featuring the babies' footprints.
“It’s so cute, and the nurses are so kind,” Hernandez said. “All the nurses have been great. Everybody has been very caring, very understanding, very patient. Honestly I’ve had a great experience.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist Hernandez and her family with extra expenses.
You can donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hernandez-twins-nicu-stay-fund?utm_campaign=p_nacp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer
