Barbara, a Huntington Beach resident, didn’t plan to deliver her baby—Benjamin—so early. At 25 weeks, a blood clot unexpectedly formed between her placenta and uterus. She was transported from a hospital 25 miles away to the nationally renowned MemorialCare Center for Women at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach. Since Miller Children’s has both a high-risk pregnancy program and the highest level neonatal intensive care unit possible, it’s distinguished as one of the “Safest Places to Have a Baby.”

Barbara was closely monitored in the high-risk obstetrical center, where a health care team sustained her pregnancy and furthered Benjamin’s development in the womb. Benjamin was cared for in Miller Children’s premier neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the largest in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, specializing in premature and critically ill babies – right under the same roof as Barbara.

“Every day a baby remains in the womb equals two days less in the NICU,” says perinatologist Michael Nageotte, M.D., chief medical officer at the MemorialCare Center for Women. “Benjamin was born 12 and a half weeks early and only weighed one pound and15 ounces. His survival was a living testimonial to state-of-the-art perinatal care.”

Today Barbara and Benjamin are healthier than ever thanks to the specialized care at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach.