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WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Families with babies born extremely sick or premature got a chance to reunite with the hospital caregivers who helped save their lives.

Baylor Scott and White in Waco hosted a reunion for families who delivered their babies at the NICU, or neonatal intensive care unit, and hospital staff, at Pecan Bottoms in Cameron Park.

Mom Dominique Newman brought along twins Carter and Crew who were born at 31 weeks and spent time in the NICU at the hospital.

They are now 22 months old, and she said the NICU helped not only save her babies lives, but also gave her a place to turn for support.

“Just the community and you gain lifelong friends with the nurses and the other people and the moms,” Newman said. “NICU life is a very niche. You only know NICU life if you’ve been in it. So, it’s just great to reconnect with everyone and just see how everyone’s babies are growing and how everyone is doing.”

Maria Solano brought her son to the reunion. He was born at 30 weeks and weighed only two pounds and three ounces.

“He was our first baby after six miscarriages, so it was the scariest experience initially, but then once we got to work with our NICU nurses it was probably the most rewarding experience ever,” Solano said.

Amanda Truelove is the director of women’s and children’s services at the hospital and said the reunion was just as meaningful for the staff who cared for the families in some of their most anxious moments.

“As the only Level 3 NICU in the community, we are so proud of the care that we provide and it’s so amazing to see these children come back one, two, ten, fifteen or twenty years later,” Truelove said. “We’ve been here for probably over 30 years and then to come back to the reunion and see how our care has impacted their lives and how they can have quality of life because of the care we provided years ago.”

The reunion is put on by the hospital every other year.