E’layah Faith/Photo courtesy of Carolinas Healthcare System
In Charlotte, North Carolina, little baby E’layah Faith was born on September 23rd, nearly 14 weeks early. She weighed just 10 ounces and is the smallest surviving baby born at Carolinas Medical Center, and one of the smallest surviving babies ever born anywhere in the world!
MyFox8 reports that on Tuesday, E’layah celebrated her “original” due date and weighed in at about five times as much as her original birth weight. “Our goal since her birth was to grow her as quickly and as safely as we could,” said Dr. Andrew Herman, a neonatologist and chief medical officer at Levine Children’s Hospital.
E’layah’s mother, Megan Smith, suffered two strokes, battled morning sickness and dealt with high blood pressure during her pregnancy. In August, Smith’s OB/GYN noticed that the baby wasn’t growing and she was placed on bed rest for nearly a month. Then, in September, doctors noticed the baby wasn’t moving and performed an emergency C-Section.
According to a release, the medical team prepared E’layah’s parents for the worst. “We just weren’t taking it,” Smith said. “We said, we have to have faith, and that’s when we made her middle name ‘Faith,’ because we weren’t going to give up on her.”
E’layah is now up to 3 pounds thanks to a special combination of formula and breast milk. Smith said she believes her daughter will have an active life thanks to her medical team. “We pray for her strength,” Smith said. “E’layah is our miracle baby girl.”
DCG
