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Babies born at UT Health East Texas receive special Christmas stocking  

Henderson, Texas (December 13, 2021) — Surprises weren’t in short supply with the arrival of the first baby born in December at UT Health Henderson.

Mother Meagan Neal said she was shocked and thrilled when nurses brought her a hand-sewn stocking embroidered with the UT Health East Texas logo, a keepsake all newborns will go home with in the month of December.

“It was so adorable when they brought that to me,” Neal said. “I was expecting her to come after Christmas, so it was just perfect.”

Neal wasn’t expecting baby Aliyah’s arrival until at least her Dec. 27 due date, so her Dec. 7 birth was definitely a surprise. Just as surprised was longtime UT Health Henderson OB Director Janet Neal, RN, who happens to be Meagan’s mother (and now Mimi to Aliyah).

All three of Meagan’s previous children have been born at UT Health Henderson and usually arrived close to their due dates, Janet said, so when she heard her daughter was in labor Monday night, she hustled back up to the hospital where she’d been working only hours earlier.

Babies born at UT Health East Texas receive special Christmas stocking  

“It was special to me because I was surrounded by the doctors and the staff that I know personally, and it was my daughter delivering,” Janet said. “It was just special to me to be able to be there and not have to be a nurse. Our nursesare awesome, so I know she was in good hands. I could just sit back and relax and be Mimi.”

Aliyah Kate Morgan arrived at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday weighing 6 pounds and measuring 18.5 inches.

“She’s just so dainty and petite,” said her proud grandmother. “She’s just precious.”

Aliyah easily fit into her new Christmas stocking, which will find a place on the mantel alongside those for dad, Hurashio Morgan; sisters Nahla, 11; Demi, 10; Danika, 9; and Skylar, 7; and brothers Hurashio Jr., 5, and Drayce, 2.

“We’ll actually use it this year. She came before Christmas so she’ll get a few things in her stocking,” said Meagan, who works in the hospital’s medical records department. “I want to keep that forever so that when she gets older I can say, ‘You were so little you could fit in this and it swallowed you.’”

The oversized felt stockings were hand sewn by members of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

About UT Health East Texas

UT Health East Texas provides care to thousands of patients each year through an extensive regional network that includes 10 hospitals, more than 50 clinics, the Olympic Plaza Tower, 13 regional rehabilitation facilities, two freestanding emergency centers, regional home health services covering 41 counties, an EMS fleet of more than 50 ambulances and four helicopters, and a comprehensive seven-trauma center care network, including the region’s only Level 1 trauma facility.

As a partner with The University of Texas System, UT Health East Texas is uniquely positioned to provide patients with access to leading-edge research and clinical therapies while training and educating the next generation of physicians and other health professionals. The nationally recognized UT System also includes The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, as well as three other major university medical centers located throughout the state.

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