Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center Jumps for Joy Over Our Leap Year Babies

Rockville, Maryland – The deliveries were extra special at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center on Feb. 29, as our Birth Center team helped local moms welcome leap year babies. On leap day 2020, Shady Grove doctors and nurses delivered 7 babies whose next birthdays won’t be on the calendar for four more years.

Stefani Morataya of Rockville was one of Shady Grove’s leap day moms. Her son, Bryan, was born at 7:13 a.m., weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces. Stefani was due March 1. She said she didn’t realize her baby might have a unique birthday until a co-worker mentioned it earlier this week. Stefani plans to celebrate Bryan’s birthday on March 1 on non-leap years.

To mark our special arrivals, Shady Grove’s leap day babies received frog caps that were handmade by one of our Mother/Baby Unit nurses.

Shady Grove Medical Center delivers approximately 5,000 babies each year. Our services include a Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for premature and critically ill newborns; all board-certified lactation consultants; the area’s first and only birth advisor to support parents-to-be; and Maryland’s first Milk Depot, where moms can safely donate excess breastmilk.

Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, a not-for-profit, 443-bed acute care facility in Rockville, Maryland, is part of Adventist HealthCare’s system of services. Shady Grove’s nationally recognized services include heart and vascular care, orthopedics, bariatrics and women’s and children’s services. The hospital also offers a range of mental health services and a freestanding cancer center. Our mission is to extend God’s care through the ministry of physical, mental and spiritual healing.