Saint Agnes celebrates former NICU baby's eighth birthday

Alexander-Glen Reynoso came back to Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital on June 11 to celebrate his eighth birthday with the neonatal intensive care team that helped save his life after he was born at 24 weeks and 6 days gestation. Ascension said he spent more than three months in the hospital’s Level III NICU, and staff marked the milestone with a NICU warrior award.

The birthday visit carried the feel of a reunion as much as a celebration. Alexander now swims, plays chess and soccer, a daily life far removed from the fragile start that brought him to the NICU as a newborn. His mother, Lisa Reynoso, said, “Even though the NICU journey can be a scary one, it can also be a really happy one. It can also be a helpful one,” and said she did not know where the family would be without the lessons learned there.

At Ascension Saint Agnes, the NICU team includes board-certified neonatologists, neonatal nurses, pediatric surgeons and pediatric respiratory therapists, the kind of specialized staff needed when a baby arrives extremely early. Dr. Kilo, an OB-GYN at the hospital, said the reunion reminded him how honored he is to provide compassionate care.

Alexander-Glen’s milestone also lands in a state where premature birth remains a major public health issue. March of Dimes says 6,896 babies were born preterm in Maryland in 2024, representing 10.5% of live births. The organization ranked Maryland 28th of 52 jurisdictions for preterm birth that year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says neonatal intensive care units were first established in the United States in 1960 and are designed for newborns born preterm or with medical complications. The agency says survival improves for infants at the highest risk of poor outcomes when they are cared for in a NICU. For Alexander-Glen and the family that once lived through those early days at Saint Agnes, the eighth birthday showed how far that care can carry a child.