Babies rest in red felt stockings at Miller Children’s Hospital on Tuesday morning. Photos by Brittany Woolsey
New parents got an extra special Christmas present from Miller Children’s Hospital on Tuesday morning.
The hospital, which delivers some 6,000 newborns a year, placed Christmastime babies in red felt stockings before handing them over to their families, carrying on the 52-year-old tradition.
Elizabeth Sanchez, now a mother of three, said her December 21 delivery of Aiden Sanchez was different from that of her other two children.
“None of my other children have been born near the holidays, so this is really nice,” Sanchez said. “I want Aiden to be happy and live a blessed life. My kids are so excited we had another baby, and we’re going to present Aiden to them in the stocking.”
Marilyn Rodriguez, clinical operations manager of labor and delivery at Miller Children’s Hospital, who has worked at the hospital for 40 years, said the babies in stockings event is something she looks forward to every year.
The event originally started with volunteers handmaking stockings, but it became so popular that the hospital began ordering stockings instead, she said.
“The moms and dads really love it,” Rodriguez said. “My son was actually born here 22 years ago, and he was handed to me in a stocking. The parents can keep the stockings and use them for the child every year for Christmas. It’s just a good-feeling event, because it’s so exciting to have a baby during the holidays anyway, but adding something like this just makes it so much fun.”
{gallery}brittany/StockingsBabies{/gallery}