May 16, 2017

Hearing the words, “you’re pregnant” can be an exciting, life-changing moment. But for many couples struggling with infertility, the journey to parenthood is frustrating, stressful, and can at times feel hopeless.

For almost two years, Brooke Schmitt and her husband, Daniel, struggled to start a family, but infertility issues got in the way of achieving their dream of parenthood.

“My OB/GYN ran several tests, and it turned out that my numbers were really low,” Brooke said. “Since my ovaries were not releasing eggs, my doctor recommended that I consult with a fertility specialist.”

After consultations with other providers, Schmitt chose the Family Fertility Center at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, a regional and national leader in providing advanced fertility services to families who have had difficulty conceiving.

Since opening in July 2014, the center’s reputation was strengthened even more in 2016 when its success rates for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) reached a milestone – 47 percent of embryo transfer patients at the Center achieved clinical pregnancy.

Dr. William Gibbons, chief of Reproductive Medicine at the Pavilion for Women and founding director of the Family Fertility Center, credits the Center’s success to numerous factors – state-of-the-art technology, research and support of Texas Children’s Hospital.

“Texas Children’s allowed me to have resources that many IVF programs don’t have,” Gibbons said. “They enabled us to build the absolute best lab that we could have, and we have almost as much research lab space as clinical lab space.”

The Family Fertility Center is the first in Houston and among the early adopters in the U.S. to offer the EmbryoScope, an embryo monitoring system that provides continuous moving time-lapse images of embryos as they grow. This technology allows fertility specialists to identify the healthiest embryo to transfer to the patient to improve IVF success.

Realizing the uncertainties that often accompany fertility treatments, the Schmitts relied on the Center’s expertise and state-of-the-art capabilities to help facilitate their dream of becoming parents. After consulting with their reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Paul Zarutskie, Brooke and her husband elected to pursue IVF.

“I was really lucky – my numbers were great,” Brooke said. “They retrieved about 41 eggs, and 39 of them fertilized successfully.”

At the end of day five, 12 of Brooke’s embryos were still living. All of them underwent genetic testing, and five of them were healthy. She and her husband, Daniel, implanted an embryo. The other four healthy embryos were cryogenically preserved for future implantation.

Brooke was implanted with an embryo on February 5, 2016. After undergoing blood work to confirm the couple was pregnant, the test came back positive.

Their daughter, Sophia, was born October 19, 2016.

“It’s a surreal feeling to know that you’re a parent and you’ve made this baby,” Brooke said. “We know we couldn’t have made her without the help of Dr. Zarutskie and the fertility team. Between the talent and the state-of-the-art technology there, it was a perfect combination that produced a perfect outcome.”

To read more about the Schmitts’ story in Texas Children’s Annual Report, click here. To learn more about Texas Children’s Family Fertility Center, click here.

May 3, 2017

On April 23, more than 30,000 people from across the Greater Houston community laced up to participate in the 2017 March for Babies walk at the University of Houston, including more than 850 Texas Children’s employees, patients and their families who all share the same passion for improving the health of babies.

This year, Texas Children’s contributed $125,000 as the Premier sponsor of the 4.5-mile walk and our employees have personally raised more than $93,000 to date to support the March of Dimes. Baylor College of Medicine, Greater Houston Anesthesiology and Morrison partnered with Texas Children’s and sponsored snacks and dessert, water, t-shirts, a tent and disc jockey.

Several months prior to the March for Babies walk, departments and units from across the organization formed their own teams to help raise money and rally support around this worthy cause. Creative teams across the organization hosted barbecues, designed and sold t-shirts, held bake sales, arranged bike tours and even paid to give their leaders a pie in the face to raise money and awareness. Each of the 60 teams raised an average of $1,900 all of which helped Texas Children’s exceed this year’s fundraising goal of $120,000.

“It was great to see everyone come together and support one another to give every baby a fighting chance,” said Cris Daskevich, senior vice president at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. “Since 1984, Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine have received more than $16 million from the March of Dimes to support research to prevent birth defects and prematurity. Our long-term partnership has helped significantly improve outcomes and quality of life for some of our most fragile babies – giving hope to patients and families when there once was none.”

Texas Children’s employee Leanne O’Brien and her husband, Kiran, were Houston’s 2017 Ambassador Family for the March of Dimes. Their twins, Remy and Ronan, were cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit at Texas Children’s for four and a half months.

April 25, 2017

In 2012, we first met the Perkins sextuplets on Connect when they were born 10 weeks premature at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. Today, these babies aren’t so little anymore. On April 23, Andrew, Benjamin, Caroline, Allison, Levi and Leah celebrated their fifth birthday.

“Part of me can’t believe we made it this far,” Lauren Perkins said. “I remember when they were little babies dreaming of this time. If I can make it until they are four or five and we’ll be past all these bottles and the potty training and the diapers, then we’ll know we’re good. We definitely survived the little years.”

For Lauren and her husband Dave, every day is a busy day in the Perkins home, especially when you have to keep up with six energetic five year olds who will start Kindergarten in the fall. Leah, who stayed at Texas Children’s neonatal intensive care unit much longer than her siblings, already attends a special school for children with developmental and physical disabilities.

So, what is a typical day like in the Perkins home? Recently, we visited the family to find out and to see how much their babies have grown over the last five years.

Referred to as the Perkins Pack – Texas’ first surviving set of sextuplets – a typical day includes preschool class three days a week, swim, soccer and dance classes. While they love to listen to music, watch TV and play outside, they also enjoy helping their mom cook. The sextuplets also have plenty of chores to do around the house like making their beds and picking up their toys. They are at an age where they all enjoy playing together.

“It’s definitely a lot of teamwork for me and my husband,” Perkins said. “I take care of them during the day, and when Dave gets home from work in the evening, he prepares dinner, gives them baths, and is very involved in their day-to-day lives including being an assistant coach on their little soccer team.”

The Perkins never imagined that they would be blessed with six beautiful babies. After struggling with infertility, the couple decided to try one round of intra-uterine insemination and ovulatory stimulating drugs to conceive what they hoped would be their first child.

“It’s pretty crazy that I carried six babies at once and they’re all here and we’re all good,” Perkins said. “It’s a miracle and a true testament of what God can do.”

April 4, 2017

Texas Children’s Marketing team created a beautifully designed website commemorating the five-year anniversary of the opening of Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women.

A few months prior to the hospital’s 5-year milestone, the Marketing team – Internal Communications, Public Relations and Web – collaborated with the Pavilion for Women Administration team to develop the content for the website.

Click here to visit the new website.

“To celebrate the hospital’s first-year anniversary, we featured Molly Struzik posing with her first birthday cake,” Marketing Specialist Emily Lamport said. “Leveraging on this concept, we decided to feature Molly again to show just how much she has grown in five years to parallel the 5-year growth and success achieved at the Pavilion for Women.”

The 5-year anniversary website contains other commemorative elements:

  • Five-year timeline spotlighting Pavilion for Women key milestones
  • By the Numbers
  • Photo gallery
  • Video reflections of what the Pavilion for Women means today

The successful completion of this project would not have been possible without the collaboration from our talented Creative Services team, who meticulously designed the website, and our photographers who provided the compelling imagery for the website.

“As part of our Pavilion for Women 5-year anniversary marketing campaign, we used multiple vehicles to drive traffic to the website including print ads and social media posts,” said Lisa Yelenick, director of Service Line, Community and Brand Marketing.

March 29, 2017

“The Bump Watch blog was such a great sense of community for new moms and a great forum to come together to share ideas and experiences,” said Texas Children’s employee Emily Klein, who delivered her daughter, Audrey, two days after Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women opened five years ago.

Launched by the Corporate Communications team in March 2012, the Bump Watch blog was designed to educate employees about the wonderful Ob/GYN services, programs and amenities offered at the Pavilion for Women while generating excitement for the opening of the new hospital dedicated to the care of women and babies.

As we celebrate Bump Watch and the Pavilion for Women turning five on March 26, we revisited three of our Bump Watch families – the Clarks, the McDades and the Kleins – to see just how big their babies have grown since we first met them.

“I think the best thing about participating in the Bump Watch blog was the documentation of my first pregnancy,” said Erin McDade, whose son Aiden is now 5 years old and a big brother to his sister who was born at the Pavilion for Women two years ago. “To have photos of my pregnancy and the video of the ultrasound, these memories were unique and very special.”

Besides promoting the services at the Pavilion for Women, the Bump Watch blog was also a great employee engagement tool across the organization. Readers, commenters and bloggers embraced the blog as a place to share their baby’s first milestones, first birthdays and surprise announcements including their experiences delivering their newborns at the Pavilion for Women. Employees shared their pregnancy challenges and offered advice for new and expectant parents.

In the blog’s first three months, Bump Watch generated more than 100,000 views and over 560,000 views until its bittersweet farewell in September 2015.

On March 26, 2017, Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women reached an incredible milestone – five years of delivering high quality and comprehensive care to women and newborns.

Since opening the hospital’s 1.3-million square foot facility, it’s amazing how much we have accomplished in just five short years. The thought and careful preparation that went into creating the Pavilion for Women has led to unprecedented access and a full range of services for women and newborns, all in one location.

As a premier destination for women and babies across the country, the Pavilion for Women continues to deliver miracles and is recognized as a leader in obstetrics, gynecology and fetal intervention.

To commemorate this five-year milestone, the Corporate Communications team developed this animated timeline video spotlighting some of the Pavilion for Women’s greatest accomplishments over the last five years which would not have been possible without the dedication from our employees, staff and leaders.

Over the last five years, the Pavilion for Women has reached many notable milestones:

  • 27,000 births and counting (exceeded 6,000 deliveries in 2016)
  • 902 sets of multiples delivered
  • 6,700+ babies have received NICU care
  • Performed groundbreaking two-port fetoscopic repair to treat spina bifida in the womb
  • Received Baby Friendly Hospital designation
  • First women’s hospital to become CNOR strong internationally
  • Launched one-of-a-kind Neurosonology Ultrasound Specialty Program

“We really have evolved and have become a much more comprehensive Pavilion for Women,” said Pavilion for Women’s Senior Vice President Cris Daskevich. “The future is bright for our hospital and we are excited about the next five years, the next 10 years and what that can hold.”

March 26, 2017

Five years ago today on March 26, 2012, Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women opened its 1.3 million square foot facility dedicated to the delivery of high quality care for women and newborns.

Since our opening, the Pavilion for Women has delivered many miracles and has proven itself as a leader in obstetrics, gynecology and fetal intervention, and is a premier destination for women and babies.

This week on Connect, we will look back at some of the Pavilion for Women’s greatest accomplishments over the past five years and celebrate our employees and staff who made these milestones possible.

  • Monday, March 27 – Pavilion for Women 5-year milestone timeline video
  • Tuesday, March 28 – A look back at the Bump Watch blog
  • Wednesday, March 29 – In the Voice of Nursing blog, Dawn Miranda reflects on the hospital’s opening as a nurse and what it means to her today
  • Thursday, March 30 – New website dedicated to the Pavilion for Women’s 5-year anniversary
  • Friday, March 31 – In his blog, CEO Mark A. Wallace shares his reflections on the Pavilion for Women and our trajectory for the future

To commemorate this remarkable milestone, a special celebration will be held in the Pavilion for Women fourth-floor Conference Center from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Monday, March 27.

And, don’t forget to share your memories and congratulatory comments on the Pavilion For Women’s Facebook Page.