A premature baby whose mom managed to carry on until the 22-week threshold before giving birth is now thriving.
When baby Eris entered the world at 22 weeks and five days, she weighed the same as a small can of soup at 1 pound 1 ounce. She was placed straight into a plastic bag to keep her vital organs warm, preventing the risk of hypothermia.
Cayce Lee, 37, and her husband, Dennis, 35, from Lewisville, North Carolina, prepared to say goodbye to their preemie daughter on more than one occasion during the 254 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“I was always quite nervous when I was pregnant with Eris as I had a stillbirth before," Cayce said.
“At 19 weeks, the doctors found that I was already dilated by two centimeters. I managed to last another three weeks, which helped us to get Eris over the threshold where medical staff could intervene to save her life.”
After going into labor, Cayce was put under anesthetic as a surgical team performed an emergency C-section, placing Eris into a sandwich bag before racing to place her in the NICU on a ventilator.
After her birth, Eris developed a series of health problems, including a staphylococcus infection, pneumonia, and sepsis. At one point, Eris was put on a life-support machine (ECMO) after becoming extremely ill and unable to breathe alone.
Cayce said: “Eris had pneumonia four times, and we’d be getting calls at 6:30 a.m. to come to see her as the hospital was so concerned about her condition.
“There were so many times when we didn’t think she’d make it. But she pulled through every single time.
“Her lungs were the main problem, as she really struggled to breathe alone. She was pretty much on all the maxed-out settings on the ventilator.”
Cayce first got to hold Eris at 1 1/2 weeks, while Dennis was only able to hold his daughter after seven weeks due to the baby’s fragile state, alongside COVID-19 restrictions. It was several weeks before Cayce was able to hold Eris once more.
Cayce said: “It’s amazing how much she does, a proper little warrior.
“There were times when I was terrified that she wouldn’t make it this far, but she proves me wrong every day.
“She was so small when she was born, for two months we couldn’t dress her in any clothes and had to get specialized premature clothing.
“A charity called TwentyFiveAndFour, based in Tucson, Arizona, sent us velcro T-shirts to put her in, and they were one of the first things she wore.”
Cayce said Eris is now over a year old and wears 9- to 12-month-old baby clothes.
“She still has a trach and spends most of the day and night on a ventilator, but she’s stable and a happy little girl,“ Cayce said. ”But now, her lungs are maturing and she is making progress with every passing day.
“We wouldn’t have her any other way, she’s our little miracle.”
