A premature baby who was so tiny that he looked like a little doll has defied the odds to celebrate his second birthday—after spending 144 days in the hospital.
Cole Rosenburg turned two years old on March 19, and he weighed just one pound and 10 ounces when born 16 weeks early in 2021.
He was so small at birth, the doctors told his parents, Hayley, 33, and Nick Rosenburg, 33, that their baby was unlikely to survive. Cole spent nearly five months in UC San Diego medical center, San Diego, battling a brain bleed and learning to breathe independently before he was able to come home.
The little warrior was so small he was dwarfed by the little octopus toy that he now towers over.
In Nov. 2022, Cole was diagnosed with spastic triplastic cerebral palsy, which limits movement due to muscle stiffness and spasms. Cole’s parents are hopeful he will continue to make progress as he is able to eat, sit up by himself with support and roll over.
Hayley, who owns a hair salon, said: “It was crazy—he looked like a Barbie doll. Cole was requiring a lot of oxygen and they discovered a brain bleed. Now he’s extremely behind.
“He can barely sit by himself and can’t stand or crawl. But he’s doing things they said he wouldn’t do. We’re hopeful that he’ll keep progressing. He’s amazing. I can’t imagine my life without him.”
The couple were over the moon when they learned that Hayley was pregnant with Cole in October 2020. Just four months prior, they had lost a son, Connor, when he was four days old, from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a condition in which an infant’s brain doesn’t receive adequate blood flow for a period of time.
“We were just excited, not nervous,” she said.
Hayley started bleeding when she was three months along, but doctors couldn’t see anything wrong and kept a close eye on her for the rest of her pregnancy. But on March 16, 2021, at 23 weeks and three days, Hayley woke up and knew she was in labor. “I was having contractions,” she said.
Hayley was rushed to the hospital where it was confirmed she was in labor. Doctors gave her steroid shots and medication to slow her labor and she was told she could deliver anytime from the next day to 16 weeks. While in the hospital, Hayley tested positive for COVID despite no symptoms, and her husband, Nick, wasn’t able to be with her. Two days later, on March 19, 2021, Hayley started having contractions again, and the doctors had to do a C-section.
After her epidural failed, Hayley had to be put under general anesthetic for the birth and had no idea if her little boy had survived when she came around.
“I woke up and I didn’t know what had happened. I asked a nurse, ‘is my baby alive?’ She didn’t know at first, but she found out and told me, ‘he’s alive and your husband is with him,’” Hayley said.
Hayley wasn’t able to see Cole until he was three days old as she was still testing positive for COVID. But when Cole took a turn for the worst, Hayley was able to meet him for the first time.
“He was the smallest thing I had seen,“ she said. ”Nick had seen him already, so he wasn’t in so much shock. At that point, we didn’t know all the possibilities of life-long problems.”
Doctors told Cole’s parents they had discovered a grade four brain bleed and that they had “no hope for him.” Cole battled chronic lung disease before having his first brain shunt in May 2021.
He had to have the shunt replaced two times before he was old enough to have a ventriculoperitoneal shunt—a tube that helps drain fluid from the brain.
Cole was also diagnosed with an eye disease—retinopathy of prematurity—and Hayley wasn’t sure if he would be able to see her.
“We didn’t know what it would be like when we left the hospital,” she said. “I didn’t know if he would be blind, but fortunately he can see us.”
After 144 days in the hospital, Cole came home on oxygen on Aug. 10, 2021—a month after his due date on July 9, 2021. He is now a happy little boy but is behind on his milestones and can’t stand, crawl or walk.
Cole was officially diagnosed with spastic triplastic cerebral palsy in November 2022 and is now undergoing treatment to help his muscle tightness. And Hayley and Nick are hopeful.
Hayley said, “He’s the happiest little thing ever. He’s never upset or cries. We’re hopeful for the future.”
The couple welcomed Cole’s little brother, Ryan, now five months old, on Oct. 19, 2022, weighing seven pounds 11 ounces.
