St. Vincent Healthcare Welcomes First Baby of 2023

St. Vincent Healthcare, now part of Intermountain Healthcare,  has welcomed its first baby of 2023 born at the hospital. A baby boy, Aidoneus Jason Charles Strock was born at 2:24 am on January 1, 2023, the first baby of the New Year for the labor and delivery team.  He is the son of Jessica Roddy and Brody Strock of Billings. Aidoneus weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and is 19 inches long. 

“It’s always exciting to welcome our first baby of the year,” said Bobbie Smith, Manager, Labor & Delivery and Mother and Newborn, St. Vincent Healthcare. “We were honored to welcomed over 1600 babies to our community in 2022 and each one is special.” 

The St. Vincent Labor and Delivery team welcomed 1668 babies to the community in 2022 in its renovated birthing center. In 2022, St. Vincent completed a more than $1 million renovation of its birthing center to improve the flow of patients and to provide for a more comforting and caring environment for the mothers, new babies, and their families. 

 In December, St. Vincent was also recognized as a Best Hospital for Maternity Care, ranking as High Performing, by U.S. News & World Report for the second consecutive year. Fewer than 300 of the hospitals evaluated by U.S. News for maternity care earned a ‘High Performing’ rating, which is the highest rating U.S. News & World Report awards for that type of care. The U.S. News Best Hospitals for Maternity Care methodology is based entirely on objective measures of quality, such as C-section rates in lower-risk pregnancies, newborn complication rates, exclusive breast milk feeding rates and early elective delivery rates, among others. 

St. Vincent was the first hospital in southeastern Montana to become a Designated Baby-Friendly birth facility. Baby-Friendly is a designation given by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF to hospitals that have created the best possible environment for breastfeeding. In addition to the birthing center, St. Vincent was the first Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Billings, providing high-quality specialized care for babies that are born premature or need additional specialized care.  Additionally, St. Vincent has been designated a Cribs for Kids ® National Gold Certified Safe Sleep hospital for its commitment to best practices and education on infant safe sleep.