Born at 12:57 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2017, John Luke Gomez weighed in at 5 pounds and measured 18.5 inches. He is the sixth child of John and Lucia Gomez of Lancaster and is their third child born at AVH.
“We are so excited that John Luke arrived on New Year’s Day,” Lucia said.
John Luke was delivered by James Ngo, M.D.
Thousands of babies are born annually at AVH, and the cycle begins anew each January with the celebration of the first birth of the year.
As the community’s first baby of 2017, John Luke and his parents were given a large gift basket from AVH that included a variety of baby items, such as an infant car seat, blankets, clothes, shoes, supplies, crib accessories and stuffed animals.
Tens of thousands of Antelope Valley residents have been brought into the world at AVH since its doors opened in 1955. In fact, more than 5,400 newborns were delivered at AVH’s Women and Infants Pavilion this past year alone.
“We had a great experience with all three pregnancies at Antelope Valley Hospital,” Lucia said. “The nurses are awesome and took great care of both me and our baby.”
The Women and Infants Pavilion, AVH’s maternity care facility, houses a range of obstetrical and newborn services. It features 39 private “Couplet Care” rooms that are furnished with special beds and bassinets so that mother and baby can stay in the same room until they go home. The facility is also home to a level 3b community NICU equipped with 20 private rooms to care for newborns with special needs as well as three technologically advanced surgery suites.
Two years ago AVH was designated a Baby-Friendly Birth Facility, which means that the hospital has met the gold standard in maternity care operations. For the past six years, AVH has received the Healthgrades® 5-Star Maternity Care Excellence Award, which recognizes hospitals that provide consistent high-quality care for women and their babies during pregnancy, delivery and the first few days after delivery.
[Information via news release from Antelope Valley Hospital.]
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