Kay developed HELLP syndrome, a life-threatening pregnancy complication, and delivered her son, William, via cesarean section at 29 weeks. The baby spent nearly two months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at UofL Hospital’s Center for Women & Infants.

Kay wrote and illustrated a children’s book about her experience with a baby in the NICU titled “Little Alfredo the Green Tomato.”

Read the full story at .

Brittany Yoeliz Chavéz Gonzalez was the first baby born in Louisville on Jan. 1 and was delivered at the UofL Center for Women & Infants at University of Louisville Hospital.

The baby was born at 12:03 a.m., weighing 6 pounds and 8 ounces and measuring 19 inches in length.

She is the first child for Irma Gonzalez Garcia and her husband Joel Chavéz, who were overcome with happiness as they cradled their baby.

“I’ve been so happy just hugging my daughter,” Gonzalez Garcia said. “We weren’t thinking about her being the first to be born on New Year’s, we were just so excited to see her.”

A nurse at , she cares for infants in the neonatal intensive care unit of the . She can say something a lot of people can’t say – she never dreads going to work.

“I get to care for babies,” she said. “And I love UofL Hospital, it’s a warm, caring place to work.”

Four years ago, Gretta’s love for what she does changed the life of one of her patients, and her own. Tabby Cooper’s son was born at 26 weeks via an emergency Cesarean section. Gretta was there, doing her job, wrapping Sulli Cooper’s tiny body and placing him in an incubator, where he would spend the first two months of his life.

Twenty-three weeks’ gestation is considered the age at which a baby is viable. Little Sulli beat that by three weeks, and he had a long road ahead of him. A few hours after he was stabilized, Gretta had a  talk with Tabby.

“She gave me two pictures of my baby boy and told me everything about him,” Tabby said. “And she warned me of the roller coaster ride I was about to endure.”

But she would not have to ride that roller coaster alone. Gretta was there every step of the way.

“The first few days were agonizing, when I looked at this tiny baby and I wasn’t able to help him,” Tabby said. “I was so afraid to put my hands in the box. He was so fragile. One day, Gretta asked if I’d held him. When I said no, she said ‘We’ll change that.’ She had me place my hands inside his incubator and placed his tiny two-pound body in my hands. She asked if two pounds was heavier or lighter than I imagined. He was heavier than I thought.”

Then one day, Sulli took a turn for the worse, and became very ill.

“Gretta stood by my side, holding me as I cried, not knowing what the future held,” Tabby said. “She sat across from me in the dark as I sat at his bedside, because he was not going to be without his mommy while he was sick.”

Gretta often brought Tabby magazines or books, trying to give her a break.

Eventually, he recovered, and it was finally time for him to go home. “She showed so much love to our tiny baby, and she also cared for me and my husband,” Tabby said.

But once Sulli left the hospital, that wasn’t the end of the family’s time with Gretta. The experience had forged a bond between the two, who became close friends, taking walks at the zoo or park, talking on holidays and sharing stories.

“We do a lot of things with the kids, who I love seeing,” Gretta said. “We spent months together, almost every day and night. It made us close.”

Three years later at UofL Hospital, Gretta was back at Tabby’s side again when Tabby’s triplet daughters came into the world – eight weeks early.

“Once again, Gretta reminded me of the crazy ride we were in for. And there she was, encouraging me and my husband, just like before,” Tabby said.

This May, Gretta will have her own special moment as she gets married. Her flower girls will be none other than Tabby’s daughters, who were born as Gretta and her fiancé had just met.

“We talked through the night, and I told her about him,” Gretta said.

Tabby says she’ll never be able to thank Gretta enough. She recently nominated her for a DAISY Award for exceptional nurses from The DAISY Foundation.

“She showed my son, daughters and all the infants she cared for so much love and affection. She provided a tremendous amount of support to the patients, parents and their families. She is truly the mom when mom can’t be there. She is an extraordinary nurse.”

Gretta, who is from Brandenburg, said she always knew she’d be a nurse or a veterinarian from the time she was 13 years old. She doesn’t have her own children, but caring for others comes naturally for her.

“I love being a nurse,” she said. “It’s a challenge, as you never know what you are going to get.”

She said the staff is like a second family, working as a team and spending long days and nights together, and supporting each other during rough times.

“It’s like home,” she said. “I think our patients feel that.”

The center witnessed its highest number of deliveries for a single month in 10 years – 200 in the month of July alone.

CWI Director Libby Smith said the last time the center witnessed that level of deliveries was in July 2007, when 211 babies were delivered.

She attributes the high number of deliveries to the high quality care provided by the staff and to the number of birthing options offered by providers who deliver at the Center for Women & Infants.

“We offer expectant moms more choices than virtually any other birthing facility in our region,” Smith said. “Women can receive prenatal care and have their babies delivered by an obstetrician or a certified nurse midwife. They can experience labor in or out of water. They can receive traditional individual care or be part of our new centering groups in which expectant moms receive support from other expectant moms.

“And if a cesarean birth is medically called for, our family-centered cesarean delivery with the clear drape option allows moms and dads to see their little ones as they are born.”

The center also provides evidence-based care for high-risk pregnancies and deliveries. “We have exceptional maternal-fetal specialists – doctors who specialize in high-risk pregnancies – leading our multidisciplinary teams who are ready and able to handle virtually any situation,” Smith said. 

The center also practices Kangaroo Care, the placing of newborns skin-to-skin with moms and dads to comfort baby and foster bonding. The Center for Women & Infants has earned Baby-Friendly Designation by Baby-Friendly USA, for providing an optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother/baby bonding. Also, La Leche League of Louisville meets monthly at the center, giving new moms support in breastfeeding, and the center’s Beautiful Beginnings prenatal care classes help expectant moms and dads prepare for their new baby.

Even with July’s record number of births, the center is ready to accommodate even more expectant families and bring new lives into the world, Smith said. “Delivering babies and giving them the best possible start in life is what we are all about,” she said.

For details about the Center for Women & Infants at UofL Hospital, visit the or call 502-562-3325.

Baby-Friendly USA implements the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in the United States. BFHI is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The UofL Center for Women & Infants is the only Downtown Louisville facility and the fourth facility in Kentucky to earn the designation. Currently there are 405 active Baby-Friendly hospitals and birthing centers in the United States and more than 20,000 worldwide.

The designation is awarded to birthing centers that follow the , offering breastfeeding mothers the information, confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies. The Baby-Friendly designation is given after a rigorous on-site survey is completed and is maintained by continuing to practice the Ten Steps.

“The process to earn Baby-Friendly Designation truly involved a team effort,” said Libby Smith, RN, nursing director of the CWI. “The staff, providers and leaders throughout the CWI work together for the common goal. Providers support breastfeeding from the beginning of the patient’s prenatal care through delivery, and then while mom and baby are in the hospital. The pediatric providers support mom and baby throughout their care, also.

“The greatest congratulations are for the nurses and the lactation team who provide the support for the family. There is a lot of education that takes place in the CWI, and a lot of support when mom is tired and just wants to give up; everyone encourages her to keep going. The Baby-Friendly Designation has been awarded because our staff works hard to make mothers and babies their priority.”

The CWI is home to Labor & Delivery, High-risk Antepartum Units, Mother/Baby Unit and the Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Units. In addition to the highest quality physician-provided obstetrical, newborn and neonatal care for mother and baby, the CWI has implemented innovative services including care provided by Certified Nurse Midwives, family centered Cesarean sections, tub labor and centering pregnancy.