Babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Cleveland Clinic Children's in Ohio are ready for the total solar eclipse Monday!
The hospital staff and the babies' parents and caregivers dressed up their little ones in soft solar eclipse glasses replicas and special black onesies with "Total Solar Eclipse 4.8.2024 Cleveland Clinic Children's" written in white text on them for the nearly once-in-a-lifetime event.
The next time a total solar eclipse will be visible in Ohio specifically will be in 2099, according to the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, when the babies will be about 75. The next time a total solar eclipse will be visible in the U.S., according to NASA, will be in August 23, 2044, but it is projected to only be viewable in Montana, North Dakota and parts of Canada.
Katrina Wiedenfeld, a registered nurse at the Cleveland Clinic Children's NICU, said their smallest patients deserved to celebrate the total solar eclipse day just as much as everyone else.
"We celebrate all sorts of things in the NICU: milestones, holidays, and now the solar eclipse! It's so sweet to involve the babies by dressing them up for the occasion," Wiedenfeld said in a statement. "I fashioned my patient in her eclipse onesie, a classic baby hat with a bow, and colorful pants for our fun photoshoot. The families now have this special onesie to have as a keepsake to remember the total solar eclipse in Ohio."
"Since our babies in the NICU won't be going outside to see the total solar eclipse on Monday, we all really wanted to do something special to mark this day in history," Cleveland Clinic Children's NICU registered nurse Dana Traci added. "It was so much fun dressing the babies up this morning and taking photos so the newborns and their families always have something to look back on."
