Melyssa Aronson and her husband, Michael Goldberg, were grateful for the care she received from Dr. John Kingdom of Mount Sinai’s fetal medicine unit during three high-risk pregnancies.

Melyssa Aronson and her husband, Michael Goldberg (not in the picture), donated a DVD library to Mount Sinai Hospital. Above are Aronson and Dr. John Kingdom of the hospital’s fetal medicine unit.

 They wanted to thank him in a tangible way and decided to donate a DVD library to the in-patient high-risk ante/postnatal unit and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Mount Sinai Hospital. The library was dedicated to Kingdom and the maternal fetal medicine group in May.

The DVDs include children’s movies such as Mary Poppins; new releases and box sets from TV series such as Friends; old movies, like Casablanca and Spartacus new films such as the Harry Potter and the Oceans series, along with action movies and comedies.

The DVDs were donated by friends and family, and by Rogers Cable and other  cable companies.

The DVDs are kept at the nurses’ station on seven south – the hospital ward where most of the high-risk maternity patients stay – in a cabinet donated by IKEA. Five portable DVD players are available. Aronson said that the plan is to eventually have a player for every room.

Aronson, a genetics counsellor at Mount Sinai, knows only too well what it means to go through a high-risk pregnancy, including staying on bed rest so that the baby remains in the womb as long as possible. Her first baby, Noah, now seven, was born at 24 weeks’ gestation.

While Noah is doing well in Grade 1 at Wilshire Public School, where he just received a courage award, his eyesight is poor and he has learning disabilities, which is not uncommon in very premature babies.

Aronson was considered high risk for her next two pregnancies as well, so she maintained close contact with Kingdom and the maternal fetal medicine group.

“I wanted to do something to help the women on seven south and especially to honour Dr. Kingdom. But Dr. Kingdom insisted that the whole  unit be honoured.”

Kingdom said he was humbled by Aronson and Goldberg’s tribute.

Mount Sinai has the largest and most diversified high-risk pregnancy program in the country, Kingdom said. Each year, the hospital cares for 2,000 new high-risk patients and 1,000 women who previously had a high-risk pregnancy.

“We are a national centre for fetal therapy, such as for congenital heart disease,” Kingdom said.

Mount Sinai is part of the Fetal Alert Network (FAN), an initiative of the Ontario Ministry of Health to help pregnant women whose babies may have birth defects. A high-risk pregnancy is not only difficult for the mothers, Aronson pointed out. Their older children who come to visit are tense and frightened, and the DVDs serve to entertain them as well as occupy them while the parents have some time to be together or talk to the doctors.