“Little star” baby born at 22 weeks celebrates her first birthday

Baby Stella, born prematurely at just 22 weeks, has beaten the odds and celebrated her first birthday at home with parents Jade and Stuart Haigh.

Brave baby Stella was born 18 weeks before her due date, being the youngest premature baby to be discharged from the Royal Preston Hospital. She weighed around a pound, almost the same weight as a can of soup.

Her mother’s waters broke at 21 weeks. Such an early pregnancy meant that baby Stella’s chances of survival were slim.

But “I am an optimistic person”, says Jade, the mother. She had “faith that she would make it”.

But Jade was not even allowed to hold her baby for a week, due to Stella’s delicate condition in an incubator.

“It was really tough for us”, says Jade, “but the realism came into place that she had been born more than four months early and had to be looked after or she wouldn’t have made it”.

It took five months of medical care in hospital before Stella was able to come home to Bamber Bridge in Lancashire with her parents last November.

Dr Richa Gupta, the neonatal consultant who looked after Stella, says she “is a real little star. We were all learning about how to care for her as we went along, as there are so few babies of 22 weeks that have been born and admitted to NICUs in the UK.”

SPUC comment

A SPUC spokesperson said: “Stella has shown great strength and bravery at such a young age, overcoming a difficult start in life to reach her first birthday.

“Her birth at 22 weeks is within the UK abortion limit of 24 weeks. That ought to give any reasonable and right feeling person pause for thought.”

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“Little star” baby born at 22 weeks celebrates her first birthday

Baby Stella, born prematurely at just 22 weeks, has beaten the odds and celebrated her first birthday at home with parents Jade and Stuart Haigh.

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