St. David’s Presents Newborns with Holiday Stockings

Images Courtesy: St. David’s Georgetown Hospital

By Charlotte Kovalchuk, Hello Georgetown Contributor

Erin Pack received an extra special gift this Christmas – a new daughter named Landry.

The Women’s Services department at St. David’s Georgetown Hospital showered Landry and more than 70 other babies born this holiday season with Christmas cheer. After each newborn received their first bath and had their hair combed, nurses have dressed them in a holiday shirt and elf hat, swaddled them in a blanket and delivered them to their parents in a holiday stocking – the perfect, adorable little Christmas present.

“We called her our little favorite stocking stuffer,” Erin said. “It was awesome. She was super cute in it.”
Landry hates being cold, Erin added, so being wrapped in the stocking was “extra perfect for her.”

As Landry is her first child, Erin said she has of course faced a learning curve, but her daughter has been a model newborn so far.

“She sleeps the entire two hours in between feedings. I actually have to wake her up,” the proud mama said.

Courtney Viala, Women’s Services department manager, is behind the hospital’s new holiday stocking tradition. When she came on board from another St. David’s location in Austin, where they would give out stockings to newborns at Christmastime, she asked the staff how they usually welcome newborns during the holiday season and learned they give out red-and-white elf hats.

“What about holiday stockings? Can we do this for our community?” she asked St. David’s Georgetown CEO Hugh Brown, who enthusiastically gave her the green light.

The hospital will continue clothing newborns in special holiday attire until the new year, and Courtney anticipates they will give out around 100 stockings by the time the Christmas season wraps up.

“I think it’s just a way to celebrate all our holiday babies in a better way,” Courtney said. “It’s the cutest little gifts for these families. Our families love it. It has brought so much joy and love. I can’t even say enough. We just want to welcome our families into our Georgetown hospital and let them know we are celebrating them.”

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