Press Release

St Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center

A Dignity Health Member

                                 News Release                                            

Contact: Sara Baird

Preemie Twins Defy Odds, Reunite

St. Joseph’s Still Seeing Miracles
as Births Rise at Hospital

Miracle twins born at 23-weeks, weighing just over one pound each, at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center have made amazing progress and will be reunited in their new home in Gilbert after spending more than three months in St. Joseph’s Nursery Intensive Care Unit (NyICU) .

Since their unexpected and premature births on April 12, Robinson and Harper Basaldu have been through just about everything together—from hearing exams and physical therapy to blood transfusions and surgeries to correct heart murmurs when they were less than one month old.

The Basaldu twins were virtually inseparable, until July 23 when Robinson, named after baseball legend Jackie Robinson, made a solo journey to his new home with his parents. Today, Harper, named after famed writer Harper Lee, will be discharged and reunited with her brother in their newly “twinned-out” home.

“The babies coming home is a great victory, like winning the first game of a 162-game season, except they played the first few innings without gloves or bats,” says their father, Pete, who is excited to begin a whole new adventure.

The family’s first adventure began three weeks before the twins were born when their mother, Lori, was diagnosed with a subchorionic hemorrhage, which is a type of blood clot found in the womb during pregnancy. Though the condition is not uncommon and typically goes away within a few days, careful observation showed that Lori’s hemorrhage continued to grow along with the babies.

Even with the hemorrhage, Lori says she never imagined giving birth so early on in the pregnancy. Then on April 12, just six hours after an ordinary check-up with her physician in Gilbert, Lori went into pre-term labor and headed to St. Joseph’s with Pete. “I hoped they could stop the labor,” Lori recalls.

But by the time the Basaldus arrived at St. Joseph’s, which is known for its high risk OB medical care, Lori was already in the late phases of labor with breech twins. She was taken for an emergency c-section to deliver the tiny babies.

“These are our first children,” says Lori, who had to learn to change diapers the size of Monopoly money. “Most new parents get to watch their newborns grow into toddlers at home. We watched our miracles grow over three months in the NyICU at St. Joseph’s into normal sized newborns.”

Andrea Sharfner, RN, manager of St. Joseph’s NyICU, says that her nurses witness the physically and emotionally draining effects that having a baby in the NyICU can have on parents. “Having twins in the NyICU is double the trouble—twice the stress, twice the worry, but there’s also the eventual relief and happiness. It’s been a true emotional roller coaster for the Basaldu family and we’re very happy to see the twins healthy and going home.”

Robinson and Harper have reached a normal, healthy birth weight of about seven pounds each. They are wearing normal sized newborn clothes and breastfeeding. Though they will continue to spend a while on oxygen, the twins’ physician says they have defied the odds and will continue their miraculous recovery.

Thank God we went to St. Joseph’s when we did. It ended up being the best thing that’s ever happened to us,” Lori says. “Pete and I just can’t wait to have them both home, so we can hibernate with them for a while.”

St. Joseph’s Level III NyICU treats some of the most severally ill infants from throughout the Southwest and cares for nearly 700 premature babies every year. These infants often weigh less than one pound at birth and stay in the hospital for weeks or even months before they are able to go home. 

St. Joseph’s has seen an increase of baby deliveries in the last year by 54 births, despite the national drop in birth rates. According to an article in USA Today, the U.S. has seen a twelve percent decrease in births per woman since 2007.

A photo of the Basaldu family taken by Photography by April Smith,volunteer for March of Dimes Arizona, is also attached.

Media is invited to interview Lori and Pete Basaldu on Monday, July 30th, 2012. The media will also be given an opportunity to obtain video footage of Harper in the NyICU prior to her discharge. Media should park in the 6^th Avenue garage. Please page 602-746-9303 upon arrival.

¾ St. Joseph’s ¾