AtlantiCare's second most premature surviving baby leaves NICU

For Immediate Release: December 2, 2022

AtlantiCare’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team recently gave a fond farewell to its second most premature surviving baby. Zavannah Hope Igboanugo-Rodriguez left the Center for Childbirth at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in Pomona, NJ, the day after Thanksgiving. That day, November 25, was also her mother Jenny Rodriquez’s original due date to deliver her daughter. Zavannah was born July 29 at 23 weeks’ gestation weighing 1 pound, 2 ounces and being 11 inches long. She left the hospital at 17 inches long, weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces.

Dana Beatty, RN, among the team of NICU nurses who cared for Zavannah, waved to the baby two days before her release. The staff celebrated with smiles and laughter as Savannah threw her hand into the air in response.

“Because she was born so early, Zavannah needed significant specialized intensive care,” said Jennifer Tioseco, M.D., CLC, neonatologist and medical director, AtlantiCare NICU and CHOP Newborn Care Network. “Her lungs, heart, eyes and other organs and systems were not ready for her to live outside her mother’s womb. In addition to our NICU team, so many clinical and support individuals contributed to caring for her and Jenny before, during and after Zavannah’s birth. Zavannah did the hard work.”

Jenny Rodriquez is now the grateful mom of two AtlantiCare NICU “graduates.” Her second child, Josiah Mays, was born at 27 week’s gestation in 2018. AtlantiCare’s NICU, OB/GYN and Maternal Fetal Medicine teams also cared for both of them as they did for Zavannah.

“The NICU team makes families feel so comfortable and that everything is going to be okay,” said Rodriguez. “I’m thankful for the doctors, nurses and the whole staff in the NICU and throughout AtlantiCare for providing such a great experience. You see their passion and the love they have for all these little babies in the NICU. They make sure you do not lose hope and reassure you that things are going to be okay. I knew they would do everything they could to make sure Zavannah survived.”

“Caring for Zavannah and Jenny this year – and Jenny and Josiah four years ago – has been such a privilege for our team,” said Tioseco. “We were thrilled to see Josiah laughing and enjoying activities at our NICU reunion earlier this year. He has grown so much. He and Zavannah, and all of our NICU babies and graduates, inspire us.”

AtlantiCare’s Level III NICU is marking its 50th year of caring for the community. The lowest-birth-weight surviving baby for whom the team has cared was born in 2018 weighing 13.7 ounces.

For information about AtlantiCare’s Center for Childbirth, NICU, OB/GYN, Maternal Fetal Medicine and other services, or to book an appointment, visit www.atlanticare.org or call 1-888-569-1000.

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AtlantiCare is an integrated healthcare system based in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, whose more than 6,000 staff, providers and volunteers serve the community in more than 100 locations in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May and Ocean counties of southern New Jersey. Its vision of building healthy communities together drives its mission of making a difference in health and healing, one person at a time, through caring and trusting relationships. A Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winner, AtlantiCare was also included in Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work. AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center was the 105th hospital in the nation to attain the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet™ designation in 2004 and earned redesignation in 2008, 2013, in 2018. Learn more at atlanticare.org or 1-888-569-1000.