‘God Has the Final Say’: Illinois Parents Celebrate One-Pound ‘Micro-Preemie’ Coming Home After Six Months in NICU

An Illinois premature baby girl, who weighed just over one pound at birth, is finally able to go home with her parents after six months in the hospital.

Nyla Brooke Haywood, born on November 17 at just 22 weeks gestation, was given a send-off party from Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox on Monday before being released into the care of her first-time parents, NaKeya and Cory Haywood of Joliet.

The sixth-month-old was celebrated by family and medical staff after beating extreme odds, the Associated Press reported.

When NaKeya was pregnant with her daughter, she was diagnosed with a dangerous high blood pressure condition known as pre-eclampsia, forcing the infant to be delivered early. 

After being born weighing just one pound and one ounce, Nyla was considered a “micro-preemie” baby.

She spent several months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before eventually gaining a healthy amount of weight. When she left the hospital, Nyla was ten pounds and 21 inches long. 

“I don’t have the words, in all honesty. I’m just grateful that she’s here, she’s healthy, and she’s doing amazing,” NaKeya told WLS-TV as her daughter was released from the NICU. 

Even under the dire circumstances, Nyla “came out fighting” on the day she was born, neonatologist Dr. Mario Sanchez said to the station. 

“She cried at birth. It was a little whimper, but it was a cry. Her heart rate always remained over 100, which, for us, is where we wanted it to be. She came out fighting right off the bat,” he said.

A medical team of up to 15 people fought for Nyla to live, even with her underdeveloped lungs. While she will require oxygen treatments and regular checkups, the little girl is good to go home.

Only 30 percent of babies born at 22 weeks, like Nyla, live long enough to be sent home, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2022 found. 

“Nyla fought hard, defied every odd, and proved that God has the final say,” NaKeya said in a triumphant Facebook post announcing her baby’s send-off party:

Cory posted happy photos of his loving wife and daughter to commemorate Mother’s Day: