ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WSVN) — The smallest baby ever born at a Maryland hospital is finally home after spending the first five months of her life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Ariana Cruz-Gutierrez was born premature at just 24 weeks into her mother’s pregnancy in early March. She weighed just 12 ounces, about the weight of three sticks of butter, Fox 5 reports.
In the days following her birth, Ariana’s weight dropped to as low as 8 ounces, but after numerous transfusions and intubations, she has not only survived but thrived, growing to 4 pounds, 15 ounces.
“We felt like we wanted to die,” Oscar Gutierrez, Ariana’s father, told the Capital Gazette. “But, now that we’ve thought of it, it was the best decision we made. Truthfully, when they told us the baby could die, our life changed completely.”
Ariana was taken care of around the clock by the hospital’s NICU team, with her parents always by her side. The family was finally able to take their baby daughter home late last week.
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