PORTLAND, Maine — A baby born 18 weeks early is now home after an eight-month stay at the Maine Medical Center neonatal intensive care unit as the state's youngest ever premature birth survivor.
The baby, named Winner, was 1 pound and 2 ounces when she was born in July, just 22 weeks into her mother's pregnancy. Hospital staff announced Friday that she was healthy enough to go home with family on March 14.
Sandy Fournier, the primary nurse who cared for Winner, has worked in the NICU for 46 years. She said she had never seen a baby born at 22 weeks gestation survive.
"Her parents were there every single day. They not only prayed for her, they pray for all of us. They were so scared for many many weeks, and with any small setback they were frightened all over again," Fournier said.
Fournier said Winner required mostly hands-off care and a lot of observation. She said Winner's skin was as thin as tissue paper, so the team kept the isolette, a clear plastic enclosed crib that maintains a warm environment for a new baby and isolates him or her from germs.
"The practitioner who put the lines in her umbilicus as quickly and swiftly actually saved her life. Nutrition is so important and, in tiny little babies, it’s very difficult to get access to veins," Fournier said. "I would gather all the teams so that all the team could go in at the same time, which was much less stressful for her than being awoken every couple of hours to be looked at and handled."
Researchers at the University of Utah have said, in general, infants that are born very early are not considered to be viable until after 24 weeks gestation. This means that if you give birth to an infant before they are 24 weeks old, their chance of surviving is usually less than 50%.
But, thanks to recent advancements in NICU technology, medical teams can help babies born even earlier survive. A 2022 study co-authored by a University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) researcher found that the survival rates of extremely pre-term babies has increased significantly in the past decade.
"That was our first 22-weeker who survived and went home with family. We all celebrated the advances in the milestones and her going home," Fournier said. "You hear about one or two in the whole world that survive this early, and Winner did."
Staff at the hospital said Winner and her family live in the Greater Portland area. They said Winner will continue to need the care of several specialists and child development services.