Baby Connor, born premature in July last year weighed just 11 ounces, the size of a human heart or lighter than a can of soda was finally discharged on Tuesday this week. An extremely rare case for the doctors, they said for an infant born so small to survive was nothing short of a miracle.
“Connor is probably one of the smallest babies to have survived in the United States,” said Dennis Davidson, chief of the infant and toddler unit at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Westchester County, New York.
On Tuesday, Connor was discharged to go home with his parents, Jamie and John Florio.
Jamie Florio, 29, said doctors and nurses told her that Connor was the smallest baby they’d ever seen, “He was the size of a newborn kitten. Stretched out, he was only nine inches long, from head to toe. But he was a fighter.”
“His parents have been unbelievably dedicated to observing the little nuances of his clinical conditions,” Davidson said, which included chronic lung disease, neurodevelopment disorder and feeding issues.
Baby Connor, was hospitalised for nine months since his birth. He was delivered in an emergency C-section birth and spent five months in the newborn intensive-care unit at the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, followed by four months at Blythedale Children’s Hospital.
It was during Jamie Florio’s 25th week of pregnancy that doctors said Connor wasn’t getting enough nutrients to thrive, and she was admitted to the hospital to be monitored. Something was wrong with Florio’s placenta, and Connor hadn’t been receiving enough nutrients to grow at a normal rate. One week later, doctors decided that an urgent C-section was necessary.
At home, Connor will need a feeding tube for a while, and the doctors will probably take off supplemental oxygen in a few weeks.