(Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - Pittsburgh has Magee Women's Hospital, and San Diego has the Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns.
It was there that the world's smallest baby - nicknamed "Saybie" by the staff for the family's confidentiality - was born at 23 weeks gestation, weighing only 8.6 ounces.
"When I heard I was getting the smallest baby I was very nervous," NICU Nurse at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital Kim Norby told KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin and Wendy Bell on Friday afternoon. "Then when I laid eyes on her, I was like 'wow, this is amazing,' and her little eyes were just staring at me. I could just tell she was a fighter from the get go, I was like 'this little girl is going nowhere.'"
Norby told Marty and Wendy that Baby Saybie's journey through the NICU was scary at first. "Just touching her made me nervous," Norby admitted. "Just watching her progress, seeing the parents with her and evolving into being parents, touching her, letting them hold her, everything was just monumental."
Norby said that Saybie's whole body could fit in her hand and there were many challenges in treating a baby that was that tiny, including regulating the baby's breathing and keeping her warm.
After a five month stay at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital, Baby Saybie was finally allowed to go home with her parents. "It was heartwarming and also bittersweet, because she had been with us for five months and you have that rapport with the parents as well as the baby," Norby said. "Five months is a long time. So you grow as a family with them. It was totally bittersweet to see them go, but I am so happy for them and so proud of that little girl. She's going to go anywhere in life, just the way she started."
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