24-Week Nano Preemie Graduates NICU After 111-Day Journey

A baby born at just 24 weeks and weighing one pound, six ounces – and who was so small her ‘nano preemie’ diapers fitted a Barbie doll – was finally able to go home after a 111-day NICU journey. After five years of infertility, Jenn, 39, and Kevin, 41, from High Point, North Carolina, decided to pursue IVF treatment. They found out their fourth transfer had worked and were expecting – but at just 23 weeks (about five and a half months) pregnant, Jenn went into premature labor. Hospital staff did everything they could to keep the baby from delivering, but after five days of holding off labor, she was taken to have an emergency C-section. Babies born at 24 weeks are extremely fragile, with many experts believing this is around the earliest they can survive, given their lungs and organs have not fully formed in the weeks prior. Noah arrived with a broken collarbone and couldn't breathe on her own, while Jenn was also fighting for her life, having developed an infection that caused her to go septic and spend three-weeks in hospital. Over the months that followed, Noah, who had been intubated, remained in the NICU to aid her breathing, before the family were given the news she could finally head home after 111 days. The date, coincidentally, was also Noah's due date, and as they walked out of Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, delighted hospital staff cheered them on. The couple later shared the video, from September 2, 2021, in a throwback post on social media where their story has touched hearts and inspired other couples.