Finding out you are going to have a baby for the first time is arguably the most exciting and impactful news you will ever hear. For Cindy Kang Ramirez and her husband, Raul, there was double the anticipation; they were going to have identical twin boys.

Mrs. Ramirez was expecting at age 42, which classified her pregnancy as high-risk. This made it even more vital for her to get expert prenatal care for her unborn twins.

“I was considering another hospital when I got pregnant but decided on Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC) just in case my newborns needed care in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU),” she said.

In January 2013, Cindy went in for her 34-week check-up with her perinatologist at PVHMC. During the appointment, doctors determined their heads were no longer growing. A Cesarean section was scheduled that day.

Cindy remembers the NICU doctor being in the operating room before and after the Cesarean section, ready to rush the twins to the NICU after they were born.

The surgery went flawlessly and the babies, Noah and Niko, arrived into the world breathing on their own. The proud parents were able to hold their newborns for a minute before they were moved to the NICU.

Weighing about 3.5 pounds each, the boys were so tiny that Cindy feared to hold them. But the NICU team assured her that she and the babies were going to be fine.

“The nurses were so reassuring and comforting the entire time,” she said, “They provided regular updates on my boys’ progress. It made all the difference after such an intense birth experience.”

Today Niko and Noah are three years old and are strong and active boys. Life is far from dull in the Ramirez household, with two toddler boys running around and keeping Cindy busy, and they are just one of many families that have been touched by the hard work and compassion in PVHMC’s NICU.

Submitted by Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. To learn about PVHMC’s NICU, visit pvhmc.org/#Neonatal_Intensive_Care_Unit.