Born weighing less than an apple, the world’s smallest baby gets to go home

When baby Saybie came into the world at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women + Newborns she hardly tipped the scales. Weighing in at just 8.6 ounces, Saybie wasn’t just the smallest baby the staff at the hospital had ever cared for, she was the smallest baby ever.

She wasn’t much bigger than a hamster, and when her weight was put into the Tiniest Baby Registry at the University of Iowa her care providers learned they were dealing with the tiniest baby in the world. Five months and five pounds later, little Saybie graduated from the NICU and finally went home.

Her family has decided to remain anonymous, but her mother spoke in a video released by the hospital, recalling the day she gave birth to Saybie at 23 weeks and 3 days gestation.

“I was the scariest day of my life,” she says, explaining that when she learned she had preeclampsia and needed to deliver she was terrified. “I kept telling them: ‘She’s not going to survive. She’s—I’m only 23 weeks,” she recalls.

Despite coming into the world so early, Saybie (that’s not her real name but the nickname the NICU nurses gave her) didn’t experience any serious complications after being born via C-section.

At first, the medical team told Saybie’s mom and dad they were not confident she would survive an hour after he birth, but they worked hard to do everything they could for her.

“That hour turned into two hours, which turned into a day, which turned into a week,” says Saybie’s mom. A week turned into five months, which has now turned into a homecoming and a lifetime with her family.

Since going home early this month Saybie has gained another pound and two ounces, the Washington Post reports. “She’s a miracle, that’s for sure,” says NICU nurse Kim Norby.

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