As soon as she entered the world, a little girl known as Saybie, entered the record books. She was born prematurely at 23 weeks and three days and weighed about as much as an apple.
Despite all odds she survived. Now, it’s believed she’s the world’s smallest surviving preemie.
Her mother, who wanted to remain anonymous, experienced complications in the middle of her pregnancy that resulted in an emergency cesarean section.
“I kept telling them that she’s not going to survive, I’m only 23 weeks.” she shared with Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns, where she gave birth in San Diego, California.
After she gave birth doctors and nurses told her and her husband they only had one hour with their micro-preemie.
“But that hour turned into two hours, which turned into a day, which turned into a week.”
Saybie, a nickname the nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit gave the newborn, did not give up. She fought and she fought hard. Each month she grew and hit milestone after milestone.
Finally, after nearly five months in the hospital’s NICU Saybie left the hospital weighing five pounds.
“She is the smallest baby,” her mother said. “But she’s mine.”
According to Dr. Edward Bell of the University of Iowa, which manages the Tiniest Babies Registry, Saybie is the title holder for the world’s smallest preemie.
“The registry contains only those infants submitted and medically confirmed,” Bell told NPR. “We cannot rule out even smaller infants who have not been reported to the registry.”
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