Parents pick special name to honor their baby’s nurses and doctors

Two-year-old toddler named "Emory" and his family reunited with nurses from Emory Johns Creek Hospital's level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for a birthday celebration recently.

Emory Hammonds’ parents, Ashanté and Eddie Hammonds, say they named their son after Emory Johns Creek Hospital (EJCH) in recognition of the care they received from doctors and nurses, according to a press release.

“His name means brave, powerful and strong,” Hammonds says in a video during the recent celebration at the hospital. “Our experience here at the hospital and the meaning of his name made it a perfect fit.”

http://youtu.be/Gx2Cw0yBJQQ

Ashanté Hammonds of Duluth says she arrived at Emory Johns Creek Hospital at 22 weeks when her amniotic sac began to leak. Hammonds says doctors told her because she didn't have enough amniotic fluid in her womb, there was a serious chance her son would not survive. Doctors performed an emergency cesarean section on Hammonds at 24 weeks to deliver her son, Emory. He weighed only one pound, 11 ounces.

Emory spent more than eight months hospitalized – half at Emory Johns Creek Hospital. He was transferred to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, where he received a feeding tube and tracheostomy and stayed for another four months.

“I remember him being so small, he could literally fit into the palm of your hands,” says Brenda Thomas, RN-C in a video. “There was a very slim chance he could make it through…but being the fighter that he is, he did it.”