A premature baby girl who was born more than three months before her due date has reunited with her first physician two years after leaving the hospital.
Baby Tilly, who was born extremely prematurely, weighed only 1lb 1oz when she was born at 25 weeks’ gestation. Tilly weighed below the fourth percentile even for babies born at her extremely young gestational age.
Following her birth, Tilly spent the next nine months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Tilly’s mother, Anna, described the experience of having a premature child in the NICU as “a roller coaster”.
“Some days, I’d have a great time in the NICU and some days, I’d go home just frustrated”, she revealed.
“But every day, I remember walking through those front doors and I would just take a deep breath and be like, ‘OK, just give me the strength for whatever is happening upstairs’”, Anna said.
Because Tilly spent so long in the hospital and, according to her mother, had very demanding needs, doctors referred to her as the “Queen of the NICU”.
Anna said that due to the length of time she was in the NICU and the extent of the care that was given to her, all of the staff at the hospital became like a family to them.
“I want people to know that the NICU is a place just where miracles truly happen every single day”, she added.
“Big deal” for Tilly to leave hospital, neonatologist says
Now, two years after going home from the hospital, Tilly has reunited with John Ross, the associate neonatologist who was her very first physician and who remembered her as being “one of our more complicated patients”.
Ross stated that baby Tilly “presented a lot of challenges over the course of her relatively long hospitalisation”, adding, “Sometimes, it’s a simple thing for patients to walk out the door, but for her, it was a big deal”.
He celebrated the reunion, as it is not often that neonatologists get a chance to see how their patients are doing so long after being discharged from the hospital.
“You feel like a rock star, right? You know, it’s so much fun to see them when they’re older”, Ross said.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “We are so happy to hear that baby Tilly is now thriving after being born at such a young gestational age and such a small birth weight”.
“It’s great to hear that Tilly was able to reunite with the team that cared for her, and that they could celebrate their achievements together”.
