Hoag facility has a busy inaugural day

For Richelde Bello and J.T. Arranz, the birth of their daughter,

Margaret Arranz, was momentous.

Margaret’s birth also was a big deal for Hoag Memorial Hospital

Presbyterian. At 3:48 p.m. Monday, Margaret became the first baby

born at the hospital’s new Sue and Bill Gross Women’s Pavilion.

The new 320,000-square-foot wing opened its doors to patients at 8

a.m. Monday.

Three of the seven floors are dedicated to maternal and child

services, including labor, delivery, recovery, post-partum and a

neonatal intensive care unit. The $129-million Women’s Pavilion is

the largest construction project Hoag has undergone in three decades.

Margaret -- who was 7 pounds, 12 ounces and 20 inches long -- came

into the world healthy, happy and with a full head of silky, black

hair.

Her mother said she went into labor around 7:30 a.m. Monday and

showed up at the new wing of Hoag, where she was instructed to go to

the old wing. Once the women’s pavilion officially opened to

patients, she was moved there.

“My nurse [said], ‘You’ve got to push that baby out and be the

first one,’” the Costa Mesa resident said with a beaming new-mother

smile on her face.

Bello said the care in the new wing of Hoag Hospital has been

wonderful.

“Everyone’s great,” she said. “They’re very helpful, very

accommodating.”

Bello added that the view from her delivery room was of the ocean,

which made the whole experience a lot easier for her and her husband.

The pavilion is set up so that the babies stay in the rooms with

the mothers, which Bello said is fantastic. There is also a couch

that turns into a day-bed, so the father or a family member can stay

the night.

“The staff are very helpful about teaching everything,” Bello

said.

Twice a day, the hospital offers a discharge class, in which staff

nurses teach new parents about baby care and post-partum care.

The first Caesarian section was performed in the new wing on

Monday, as well, and brought triplets -- three girls -- into the

world at 6:03, 6:04 and 6:05 p.m.

The proud parents, Corona del Mar residents Richard Brown and

Brittany Mason, said they also think the care at Hoag is excellent.

“It was wonderful,” Mason said. “Everybody was so kind and happy

and nice. Everybody was really helpful and of course everything was

clean and shiny.”

The couple also has three boys -- Jonathan, 7; Ashton, 6; and

Finlay, 4 -- who were all born at Hoag Hospital, in the old wing.

Mason was scheduled to have a Caesarian section on Thursday, but

the babies were ready Monday afternoon.

“They decided to come on their own,” she said. The babies do not

have names yet -- Brown and Mason said they have narrowed their

choices down to a short list.

The triplets are in the neonatal intensive care unit, which is

right down the hall from Mason’s room. She said they’re all healthy

and doing well and the staff at Hoag has made sure she interacts with

the babies regularly and has allowed her to spend time with each one

individually.