Hospital celebrates 'one of the world's smallest babies ever born'
When little E'Layah Faith Pegues was born, she weighed only 10 ounces and was 10 inches long...
When little E’Layah Faith Pegues was born, she weighed only 10 ounces and was 10 inches long.
This past Tuesday would have been E’Layah’s original due date, but she was born three and a half months too early at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C.
At the time, she was the smallest premature baby to survive at the hospital, and she was also “one of the world’s smallest babies ever born,” according to E’Layah’s doctor.
Her neonatologist, Dr. Andrew Herman, said that she could fit “head to toe” in the palm of his hand when she was born.
“To be honest, we were unsure if E’Layah was going to make it,” Herman said, “but the doctor who delivered her could see she had a fighting chance, and her parents never lost faith it was possible she’d survive.”
But E-Layah did survive, and she now weighs five times as much as she did when she was born. E’Layah and her parents have stayed at Levine Children’s Hospital, but now, things are hopeful, and E’Layah may be able to go home soon.
Megan Smith, E’Layah’s mother, said that she and her fiance gave E’Layah the middle name of “Faith” because they “would always have faith” and they were “never going to give up on her.”
Smith said that, though the journey has been hard to get E’Layah to this point, “every precious moment spent with our daughter has made everything worth it.”
