{"id":259015,"date":"2021-12-18T09:07:40","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T15:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=259015"},"modified":"2021-12-16T23:08:44","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T05:08:44","slug":"families-rejoice-micro-preemies-home-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/families-rejoice-micro-preemies-home-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Two families rejoice as their micro-preemies come home for the holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two families are enjoying the holidays with their newest babies home from the hospital after both were born extremely early and spent over 100 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Both baby Reece from Nebraska and baby Paris from Texas were micro-preemies<\/a>, born months before their due dates. Their survival is a testament to the amazing power of modern medicine, which is enabling children younger than ever<\/a> \u2014 as young as 21 weeks \u2014 to thrive outside the womb.<\/p>\n

“A true miracle”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reece’s mom, Megan Phipps, said she knew there was something different about her pregnancy with Reece, which was not her first. That’s because she was carrying twins. A press release<\/a> from Bryan Health in Lincoln, Nebraska, revealed that Phipps had a rare condition called\u00a0uterine didelphys, which meant that she had two uteruses instead of one. Phipps was carrying a child in each uterus.<\/p>\n

At just five months into her pregnancy, when she was 22.5 weeks pregnant, Phipps went into labor and gave birth to her twins, Reece and Riley, micro-preemies. Sadly, Riley passed away after 12 days in the NICU, but Reece, who was born weighing just over one pound, managed to make it. She ended up staying in the hospital for 144 days, during which time she spent 45 days on a ventilator and received nearly a dozen blood transfusions.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0World\u2019s most premature baby, born at 21 weeks, celebrates first birthday<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite her extremely early birth and early health challenges, Reece pulled through and was able to go home with her family on November 2, at a healthy weight of more than eight pounds. According to the Lincoln Journal Star<\/a>, Reece doesn’t appear to have any major health complications.\u00a0 “She is a true miracle,” said Kallie\u00a0Gertsch, a NICU nurse who cared for Reece.<\/p>\n

A Texas homecoming<\/strong><\/p>\n

Baby Paris Nguyen was born in August weighing just 450 grams \u2014 less than one pound \u2014 at 23 weeks. She was the smallest baby ever born at Medical City Arlington hospital.<\/p>\n