University of New Mexico Hospital nurse adopts NICU baby
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A New Mexico nurse, who works with sick children, has officially adopted a child born more than four weeks premature and weighing only two pounds. In 2022, Olivia Peña was a registered nurse at the University of New Mexico Children’s Hospital, a mother of two, and a wife, but then she got a call asking her to take on another role.
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Peña had fostered several children before but fostering baby Addison was going to be a challenge. “I fell in love with her, the second I saw her. It was scary with the big ol’ c-pap machine and her little beanie and all of the cardiac monitoring,” said Peña.
Brain hemorrhaging had caused seizures and she needed a breathing machine. But after six months, in the NICU, Addison came to her new home. Now a year and a half later, the baby is doing great. Peña is now pregnant with her fourth child.
