Christmas presents come each year in a variety of shapes and sizes. For parents at MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach, Santa “delivered” their Christmas miracle in a giant, red stocking!

For more than 55 years, the Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center at Miller Children’s & Women’s has been sending newborn babies home in keepsake stockings adorned with positive holiday wishes. The tradition has been upheld year after year as a way of celebrating with families and welcoming holiday babies into the world. The giant stockings are offered to babies born between Dec. 19 and Dec. 25, and serve as a special memento for their family.

The Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center provides compassionate, quality health care for expectant mothers and delivers nearly 6,000 babies each year. For high-risk pregnancies, the Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center offers a Perinatal Special Care Unit with a leading high-risk perinatal program providing constant monitoring of mother and baby. The high-risk program is designed to ensure a safe delivery and smooth transition to the level III (tertiary) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – keeping mom and baby together under one roof.

“I’ve been a part of this tradition for more than 40 years now,” says Marilyn Rodriguez, RN, director, clinical operations, Mother/Baby Unit, Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center, Miller Children’s & Women’s. “Even though I’ve seen it before, it’s just as exciting every year seeing the adorable babies welcomed into the world in such a special way.”

In 2018, Miller Children’s & Women’s became a Baby-Friendly birth facility. The initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies.