Each of the NICU rooms is equipped with high-frequency ventilators, state-of-the-art monitors, and the latest technology for treating sick and/or micro-premature infants.

Connie Valentine, NICU nurse manager, said she is excited about the new facility housed in the Women's and Children's Center on 400 East. "We've been training our staff and taking them to the next level of care," Valentine said.

First-time mom Arianne Evans said doctors delivered her baby by Caesarean section six weeks early after she went to the emergency room with severe back pains.

Baby girl Annaka Monett was whisked away, stabilized, and put on oxygen moments after being born. It would be 24 hours before Evans was able to hold her first child, but it was definitely worth the wait, she said.

"She just a really calm, happy baby," Evans said.

Evans, who lives in the Cedar City area with her husband and other family members, said her experience with DRMC's newborn intensive care unit was "really great."

Other highlights of the Women's and Children's Center include an eight-bed Infant Special Care Unit that acts as a step-down nursery to the NICU, a Transitional Nursery, three new labor/delivery/recovery rooms, and a new postpartum floor, including a well-baby nursery.

"My wife and I had a baby that was six weeks early. It really made me aware of how driven you are as a parent to be at that baby's bedside," Miner said.

The addition of an intensive care unit for premature infants at DRMC means more families will be kept together when they need it the most, the doctors added.

---

E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com