Hershey, Pa. -- At 12:29 a.m. today (May 25), Rania Sweigart, 32, and her husband Timothy of Adamstown welcomed the first of their four babies at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. The first baby, a girl named Alinda Victoria weighing 3 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 16 inches long, was followed by her brother, Anthony John weighing 3 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 17 inches long. Two more sisters followed: Thanna Alexa weighing 3 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 17 inches, and Jamie Olivia weighing 3 pounds, 4 ounces and measuring 15 inches.
The Sweigart babies are the fifth set of quadruplets delivered at the medical center since 1992. The Sweigart quadruplets join the Gosselin sextuplets, who were born May 10, in Penn State Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), along with other babies who need close monitoring.
The APGAR scores (scores determined of babies following the birth) all are good, according to Dennis Mujsce, medical director of the NICU at Penn State Children's Hospital. "We anticipate healthy outcomes."
The NICU at Penn State Children's Hospital is a Level III NICU. It houses 30 licensed beds, and admits more than 500 sick neonates each year. There are six board-certified, fellowship-trained neonatologists, five nurse practitioners and a team of neonatal nurses and specialists treating the tiniest of babies in the NICU. The unit serves as a referral center for nurseries and other NICU's throughout central Pennsylvania.
There have been more than 29,000 deliveries at Penn State Hershey Medical Center since October 1970. Approximately 1,300 babies are delivered per year at the medical center. In 2003, 28 sets of twins and six sets of triplets were delivered. The Women's Health unit houses five labor, delivery and recovery (LDR) rooms, one procedure room, one Cesarean room and 25 postpartum rooms.
Rania Sweigart, a Harrisburg native, is a biology teacher at Hempfield High School, Landisville. Timothy Sweigart is a controller with Purcell Construction Co., Denver.
For updated information, visit Penn State Hershey Live at http://live.psu.edu/story/7009