The world’s smallest baby is finally going home after a five-month stay at the Sharp Mary Birch Hospital in San Diego, California.

 

Baby Saybie, the world’s smallest baby ever born, weighed a mere 245 grams (8.6 Ounces). The child was delivered at San Diego’s Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns, California’s largest maternity hospital.

 

According to the official Tiniest Baby Registry, maintained by the University of Iowa, Saybie is the tiniest baby ever to survive. She weighed as much as a child’s juice box at birth.

 

 

Saybie was delivered via emergency cesarean section in December at 23 weeks and 3 days gestation following severe pregnancy complications that put her mother’s life at risk. Saybie’s mother was diagnosed with preeclampsia. The condition, marked with high blood pressure, puts both the mother and child at risk. The doctors decided they had to deliver Saybie immediately.

 

In a video released by the hospital on Wednesday, Saybie’s mother said,

“It was the scariest day of my life. They told my husband that he had about an hour with her and that she was going to pass away. But that hour turned into two hours, which turned into a day, which turned into a week.”

 

“I kept telling them that she’s not going to survive, I’m only 23 weeks,” the mother who has chosen to remain anonymous said. A typical pregnancy lasts 40 weeks. Despite all odds, Saybie did survive.

 

After a nearly five-month stay at the Sharp Mary Birch Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Saybie was discharged in mid-May. She weighed a healthy 5.6 pounds.

 

 

One of the NICU nurses, Kim Norby, who cared for Saybie as she fought to survive said, “She is a miracle; that’s for sure.”

 

Another nurse, Emma Wiest, said that Saybie was so small at birth that “you could barely see her on the bed.”

 

“I’d heard that we had such a tiny baby. It sounded unbelievable because I mean she’s about half of the weight as a normal 23-weeker,” she said.

 

“I just want her to know how strong she is. I mean, if she can start off where she was and do as well as she can be, there’s nothing she can’t do,” said Wiest.

 

Apart from Saybie’s fighting spirit, her survival as a micro-preemie — a baby born before 28 weeks’ gestation — could be attributed to the fact that she suffered no serious complications after birth, the doctors said.

 

According to the hospital,

“Saybie experienced virtually none of the medical challenges typically associated with micro preemies, which can include brain bleeds, and lung and heart issues.”

 

Defying all odds, Saybie went home in mid-May 2019 as a healthy, happy 5-pound infant.