Health

'Miracle Baby' May Go Home On Mother's Day

Boy Born At Less Than 4 Pounds And Premature May Get To Go Home With Family Soon

CHICAGO (CBS) ― This Sunday will be an especially happy Mother's Day for a woman from Franklin Park. Thanks to a team of specialists at Loyola University Hospital, she might even welcome home the newest addition to her family on that very day.

Doctors call the Jaffray family's newest addition a miracle baby. While the family is celebrating now, Andrea Jaffray's fifth pregnancy was anything but joyful.

She was carrying twins, but one fetus died. Then just 23 weeks into the pregnancy, her water broke – Jaffray had a condition called placenta accreta.

"We had some imaging studies ahead of time that suggested Andrea's placenta had not only invaded into her uterus, but possibly even into her bladder," said obstetrician-gynecologist Paula White, M.D.

Jaffray spent the next several weeks in the hospital on bed rest. Doctors were trying to keep the pregnancy going for as long as possible to give the surviving twin the greatest chance to live.

"You talk to the doctors and they tell you if he's born now… he could have these complications and all the list of things. That was just so bad, so you just worried the whole time," Jaffray said.

On April 15, Jaffray suddenly began bleeding and doctors performed an emergency Cesarean section.

Zachary arrived eight weeks early weighing just 3 pounds, 15 ounces.

"That was just. I mean, it was an amazing load off of my chest, just knowing that he was OK, that he was breathing because I was really concerned about his lungs," Jaffray said.

Zachary has spent his whole life in Loyola's neonatal intensive care unit, where doctors and nurses have helped some of the smallest babies ever born survive.

Doctors say there's a 98 percent chance Zachary will have no long-term serious health problems.

"The good news is, Zachary was born with pretty healthy lungs, no infection and he's going to join his four brothers at home," said Jonathan Muraskas, M.D.

Doctors say Zachary has gained weight, is learning to breastfeed and is able to maintain a steady temperature, so he probably will go home by Sunday.

Jaffray, her husband and two of their other four sons all celebrate their birthdays on May 11.

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