A US girl born at just 22 weeks and weighing only 1lb 9oz has been allowed home after hitting all her major developmental milestones.
Baby Jimena “JC” Macias was born eighteen weeks early and given less than a 50 per cent chance of survival.
But after 112 days on a neonatal intensive care unit, doctors discharged Jimena, enabling her to return home to spend Thanksgiving with her parents.
Beyond help
When Mum Juana Gallegos went into labour, attending doctors told her that they would not be able to resuscitate her daughter or “be able to do anything for her if she was born there, at that time, that early”.
Juana was transferred to Memorial Hermann hospital in Shenandoah, Texas, where the newborn could benefit from its advanced neo-natal facilities.
During her time on the specialist ward, Jimena was placed on a ventilator and fed intravenously through her umbilical cord.
The term “micro preemie” is generally used in the US to describe a baby born at 28 weeks’ gestation or less.
Also see:
Alabama boy named world’s most premature baby
‘Never give up’ says mum as baby born at 22 weeks goes home
Parents joy at ‘little warrior’ born weighing less than a pound