Hospital celebrates miracle babies

Six-week-old Charity Madsen earned her name long before she was born at just over three pounds.

Through a prenatal complication, the baby had been giving up her share of nutrients in the placenta's blood supply to her twin. But her sister, Liberty, passed away and Charity was born alone and premature at LDS Hospital.

"She was giving so much of herself that we named her Charity," said Laureen Madsen, Charity's mother.

And Charity still had a long road ahead of her that included three weeks in the newborn intensive care unit at LDS Hospital, where she struggled through feeding tubes and difficulty breathing.

"At first it was like we were just going to (the hospital to) visit a baby like at a zoo or something" said Madsen, 22, who lives in South Jordan. "Taking her home was the best day of my life."

Now six weeks later and weighing in at 5 pounds, Charity is one of the newest graduates of the hospitals' Newborn Intensive Care Unit, which celebrated the success of all its miracle babies Saturday at a reunion for parents and their children.

"It gives the new moms hope to see a premature baby now as a healthy 4-year-old," said Kathie Peterson, Parent Support Coordinator for the hospital's newborn unit. "I see them go through this heartache and emotional roller coaster, wondering if their baby is going to make it through the night. Now I see them running around."

Peterson has been sponsoring the annual reunion for four years, watching parents that once struggled with 1-pound preemies come back with their children to bond with the other parents.

For Madsen, that support was invaluable as she sat up sometimes until 2 a.m. watching Charity in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit.

"When you see your neighbor there with their baby, you just smile and start talking and get your mind off everything," she said.

During one of those late nights, Madsen met Rebecca Woodridge, whose son Joseph was born just four days after Charity. Woodridge had planned to put her new baby boy up for adoption after he was born in September.

But when Joseph was born eight weeks early and only 4 pounds, Woodridge couldn't walk away from her premature and struggling newborn.

"When you see your baby hooked up to an IV and oxygen, it's hard," she said. "I think he was born early for a reason. He changed my life. I think I needed him more than he needed me."