A baby girl who was born extremely prematurely has finally gone home from the hospital for the first time after over a year.
Baby Raelynn was born at only 23 weeks and six days’ gestation on 18 July, 2025, almost four months before she was due. She weighed a very tiny 355 grams – only 12.5oz.
Raelynn was born so prematurely that her eyes were sealed shut and her skin was translucent, according to her parents, Aubree and Aaron.
“It was very unreal”, dad Aaron said. “Even though you know what’s going on and you know the situation, it still doesn’t feel like something you’re supposed to see”.
Mum Aubree had to have a caesarean section to get baby Raelynn out, and 45 minutes afterwards the family were being told to say goodbye to their daughter. However, Raelynn’s parents pleaded with the medical team to do everything they could to save her life.
“[T]he family said, ‘Dr O, do everything in your power to help save her’”, Dr Claudette Onyelobi, Raelynn’s neonatologist and an associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, recalled.
“She said, ‘I heard everything you said, Dr O., I need you to do everything in your power to give my baby a chance at life and please provide her a trial at life and give her every medical intervention that you have at your avail’”, the doctor remembered.
The medical team explained that babies born so prematurely often have many different conditions and health issues that can lead to them having to stay in the hospital for extended periods of time in their early months.
“They’ll have a myriad of different things they’ll have to face and battle during their time in the NICU, which can be anywhere from six months to the first year of age”, Dr Onyelobi said.
Raelynn was no exception, requiring a lot of specialist care at the beginning of her life, even undergoing open-heart surgery.
Fortunately, she is a little fighter, and she was finally able to go home from the neonatal intensive care unit after 375 days. Though she is now thriving, she still requires full-time care from her parents.
Raelynn has now beaten the odds, and weighed 18lb at 13 months old, according to her doctor.
“Raelynn has her work cut out for her. She has beat several odds to come to this point. To not only survive past the first 24 hours of life, the first month of life, but now we’re talking the first year of age”, Dr Onyelobi explained.
“And so that’s an amazing feat when you are born so small for gestational age. And so she is a walking miracle. I mean she isn’t walking yet, but she is a real-life miracle”, she added.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It’s wonderful to hear that baby Raelynn has finally gone home from the hospital after over a year!”
“She has completely defied the odds and is now thriving at home thanks to the dedication of her parents and the medical practitioners who cared for her, and to whom we express our gratitude”.
