Baby Agnes: “I call her my little hero.”
Jacinta Taylor-Hatt’s pregnancy was in serious trouble. This Melbourne mom started to bleed when she was just 27 weeks pregnant. It had happened before, but never like this.
“My stomach had begun to swell quite dramatically,” Taylor-Hatt told the Daily Mail Australia. “The pain was extraordinary.”
At the hospital, doctors performed a quick ultrasound. The results were terrifying. Her baby’s placenta had separated from her uterus, a life-threatening condition known as placental abruption. In order to save her baby—and even her own life—doctors would have to perform an emergency cesarean section.
The procedure was a success, but it also meant that baby Agnes was born 13 weeks early, placing her in the “extremely preterm” category. This tiny infant couldn’t breathe on her own yet, and she weighed less than 2 pounds.
Fortunately, Agnes and her mom were receiving wonderful care. Agnes stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit for three months, most of it in a humidicrib (an incubator that offers oxygen, humidity, and warmth). Then, like the little warrior she is, Agnes rallied.
“She’s so brave and really fought,” Taylor-Hatt said. “She fought to be here from that being so tiny, little and fragile.”
After spending her first few months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Agnes finally went home to join her parents and four brothers and sisters. She learned to breathe on her own and breastfeeds with the best of them.
“We’re fairly optimistic she will have a normal and healthy life,” Taylor-Hatt said.
Baby Kenda: Doctors recommended taking her off life support seven times, but in the end, she beat the odds.
No parent should be told to give up on a child. But that’s exactly what happened to Saleh and Halima Eltbawi, of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Their baby, Kenda Mohamed, was born extremely preterm, at just 27 weeks. Her first days on this Earth were marked by infections, brain bleeding, and swelling. She was born about the size of her father’s hand.
Still, Saleh and Halima never gave up on their miracle baby. Kenda had four major operations within three months, and she was on life support. Doctors were convinced that she wasn’t going to make it.
Today, Kenda is healthy and happy. Her parents don’t know if she’ll have any long-term challenges as a result of her early birth, but no matter what, her very life is a victory.
Baby Mollie: She wore her dad’s wedding ring as a bracelet.
Stephanie Perrin couldn’t believe she was in labor. She had only been pregnant for 27 weeks. But her baby, Mollie—”Miracle Mollie,” they call her—was ready to be born, and she wasn’t taking no for an answer.
Mollie Faith was so small that her father’s wedding ring fit easily around her wrist. She weighed just a bit over a pound. Hospital officials believe that she’s the smallest baby to be born in their facility who managed to survive.
After 120 days in the NICU, Mollie finally went home with her parents. The Perrins credit the great care they received at the Hull Women and Children’s Hospital with giving their little miracle the gift of life.
Baby Emily: “One-hundred percent a miracle.”
Emily Mulford clung on to life with everything she had. The baby was born premature, at just 30 weeks of gestation, and she wasn’t responsive when she emerged from the womb.
“It started off very scary and we didn’t think it was going to end well,” Amy Clark, a nurse who assisted with the birth, told the Palomar Health blog. “And then a miracle happened and here she is!”
Staff worked tirelessly to get Emily breathing. A doctor remembers Clark shouting with joy when the first signs of life began in this tiny baby.
“She’s pink! She’s pink! We got life back!” she said.
Three years later, Emily returned to the Palomar Medical Center to celebrate her life with the medical professionals who made it possible.
“We are beyond blessed,” said Emily’s mom, Kristi.