World's smallest surviving baby heads home from California hospital

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- The world's smallest surviving baby is now home after being born in a San Diego hospital five months ago. Her name is Saybie. At birth, she weighed about as much as a child's juice box.

Saybie's mom went to Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns in December 2018. The hospital put out a press release Wednesday. It says Saybie's mom was 23 weeks and 3 days pregnant and experiencing discomfort. Doctors told her she had to deliver immediately due to severe pregnancy complications. A typical pregnancy is 40 weeks.

Saybie's mom - who chose to remain anonymous - says: "They told my husband we had about an hour with her and that she was going to pass away. But that hour turned into two hours, which turned into a day, which turned into a week."

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Saybie weighed 8.6 ounces at birth, making her a "micro preemie." Nurses say she was so tiny they could barely see her in her bed. A team of nurses and doctors tended to her in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for months.

"We do everything we know how to do as well as we can and after that it's really up to our babies. So some really have the strength to go through what they have to go through and grow outside the womb," says nurse Spring Bridges.

Saybie went home in mid-May 2019 as a "happy, healthy" 5-pound infant.

"I don't think we can forget this date. We should celebrate the day every time," Saybie's mom says. "I feel blessed. She is the smallest baby, but she's mine."

Saybie's record as "world's smallest surviving baby" is according to the "Tiniest Baby Registry," which is maintained by the University of Iowa.

Sharp Mary Birch Hospital says it is "recognized as among the best in the world in caring for micro preemies."