Santa Claus Spreads Christmas Cheer to Preemie Babies in NICU

Santa Claus visits babies in a Michigan NICU.
Santa Claus visits babies in a Michigan NICU.(Spectrum Health)

One of the babies only got to meet Santa Claus this year because he was born weeks premature.

The tiniest babies in this Michigan hospital didn’t get a chance to visit Santa, but luckily, the jolly man in red brought season’s greetings to them instead.

Santa Claus met with NICU babies and their optimistic families at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids over the weekend to spread some holiday cheer.

(Spectrum Health)

“Families love it,” said family support program coordinator Amy Nyberg, who helped Santa out on the big day. “They are able to hit that milestone and have that memory of baby’s first photo taken with Santa.”

Two-day-old Gabriel Kulakowski donned an elf costume as Santa Claus held him.

Baby Raelynn Rhodes was too small to fit into regular children’s clothing, instead wearing an American Girl doll’s outfit, complete with ice skates.

(Spectrum Health)

Preemie Parker Davis wasn’t supposed to meet Santa until next year, but because he was born weeks early, he was able to take a sweet picture sleeping in Santa’s arms.

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