Hannah Bella Rodriguez is the most miniature thing ever to be delivered at a Long Island hospital. She was given a nickname “miracle baby,” and she finally left Nassau University Medical Center went home with her mother, Jennifer Pena.
“She was always going to be my beautiful baby and I love her. She doesn’t let me sleep at night but it’s okay. I’m in love with her,” Pena shared at a hospital press conference, CBS New York stated.
Pena learned about her baby’s condition when she was at her 22nd week of pregnancy. Doctors told her that the baby inside her stopped growing, and they told her she must be at bedrest for a while. Pena gave birth to Hannah on July 11, thus making her the smallest baby ever to stay alive at the hospital.
“I was really scared but they helped me a lot,”
Pena shared.
“I was crying in the surgery room but they held my hands and told me everything was for my baby.”
Normally, a baby needs to make it to the 22nd week in order to live. Hannah was delivered after 26 weeks, but she was the size of a 22-week-old. Doctors said Hannah definitely had the power much larger than her size when she came into the light.
“In the delivery room it was really cool, that’s the only way I can say it. This little kid came out and screamed,” neonatologist Dr. Harriet Boxer revealed. “This was really reassuring.”
Hannah’s lungs were so powerful that she didn’t even require a respirator to breathe.
While being in the neonatal ward, Hannah went to 5 lbs. 5 oz., four times more than when she was born and she is now fully recovered. Doctors say that Pena is responsible for her baby’s growth.
“Every day she learned how to take care of this baby,” Boxer revealed. “She was involved, she touched her, after her initial shock at how small she was. It increases the rate of survival.”
“I know everything’s going to be okay,” Pena shared. “She’s doing well.”
