AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - A local teen celebrated her 18th birthday Thursday by returning to the Piedmont Augusta Hospital NICU where she spent her first months of her life.

Evelynn Stamey was born at 29 weeks gestation and spent 11 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit before going home just three days before her original due date.

“For me, it was emotional,” said her mother, Nicole Stamey, describing their visit. “Walking down to those doors and buzzing in and washing your hands and going through the motions and seeing the incubators, seeing those empty and walking past the room that we had to stop and go into multiple times a day for three months. It really kind of brought me back.”

During the visit, hospital staff showed them the tiny blood pressure cuffs and diapers that were

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