An Australian micro-preemie has survived despite being the “size of a phone” at birth.
Chrissy Gronbek told Yahoo News Australia that she was just 25 weeks pregnant when she unexpectedly went into labor, experiencing a delivery that was extremely quick. “Wyatt came flying into the world in a grand total of 16 minutes,” she said. “It only took three pushes.”
Weighing just 794 grams, Wyatt was whisked away to intensive care immediately, before Chrissy could even see him.
“The first time I ever saw him was a picture on my husband’s phone and he was about the size of my husband’s phone,” she said.
During this time, she said she experienced an intense fear that she would lose him, calling the situation “unfathomable.”
After surgery and an extensive time in the NICU, Wyatt was able to pull through. After four months, Chrissy and her husband Matthew were able to take little Wyatt home.
Chrissy shared her story with Yahoo! News in honor of World Prematurity Day on November 17, saying she wants to support other families who find themselves in the same situation. She’s also become an ambassador for Life’s Little Treasures, an Australian organization that works with NICU families.
“I was quite hungry for information and in the NICU ward, there’s lots of signs around about Life’s Little Treasures,” she recently told the Sunshine Valley Gazette.
“You are thrust into a world you never thought you would be a part of, worrying about… your baby’s heart rate or oxygen rate… I guess spreading awareness and getting my story out there is kind of showing, ‘Hey, you’re bringing your baby home on oxygen? I did too’,” she said.
While she emphasized that no two stories are the same, she said she wanted to share her positive experience so that other NICU families could have hope.
“I think there’s a lot of information out there that creates fear, and there’s a lot of unknown when you’re going through it for the first time,” she said. “It’s such a hard journey but you can get through it. There is support.”
