One happy family has been able to welcome home a new baby girl after she spent four months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Richmond University Hospital (RUMC) in Staten Island, New York.
Miracle Murray was born on April 2, at 23 weeks gestation. She weighed a mere one pound at birth.
Miracle’s mom, Tiffany Murray, told SI Live having her newborn in the hospital for so long was difficult.
“It was stressful; I cried every day,’’ she said, noting she spent every day in the NICU. “I felt sad at night; I wanted her to come home with me, but I understood that her health was more important.”
According to SI Live, Miracle’s extremely early arrival created some challenges for the medical team, and she had to spend months in an incubator. Joanna Barretta, a physician assistant involved in caring for Miracle, marveled at how so many preemies are able to thrive when given the chance.
“It’s really amazing because they’re very strong while also being very fragile at the same time,’’ she said of the infants. “They’re resilient.”
Murray credited the medical team at RUMC for their dedication in caring for Miracle.
“I want to thank them all for being there for my baby,’’ she said. “They handled her as if she were their own baby, and that touched me a lot.”
Despite her extremely small size at birth, Miracle was discharged August 21 weighing a healthy 8 pounds, 3 ounces.
“She went home looking as healthy as some of the full-term babies,’’ Barretta said.
Thankfully, Tiffany was able to find a hospital able to assist both her and Miracle when she went into labor prematurely, but not every hospital is equipped or willing to care for infants born that young — and some will shockingly refuse to treat these smallest preemies. The organization TwentyTwoMatters has created a global map of hospitals that are willing to help premature babies as young as 22 weeks.
