In what can only be described as a miracle, a micro preemie born weighing a mere pound and two ounces finally went home with his parents after spending 113 days in the NICU.
Finn James Hill was born via emergency cesarean section on May 21, 2019, almost four months ahead of his original due date of September 6. Right then, doctors revealed that the infant only had a 50% chance of survival.
But after almost four months of staying at the Nemours Children’s Hospital, the micro preemie was finally released to be home with his parents!
“It didn’t hit me until we left and it was the three of us for the first time,” Jessica told “Good Morning America.” “I knew we wouldn’t have to take him back. It was everything we hoped and prayed for.”
The Florida couple’s journey of conceiving had been far from easy. Chris and Jessica experienced nine years of infertility, having undergone multiple cycles of in vitro fertilization using their own egg and sperm. Unfortunately, none of them became successful, so they considered embryo adoptions.
Luckily, Jessica met a couple on Facebook whom she adopted eight embryos from. Her first embryo pregnancy was unsuccessful, but after the second attempt, she finally became pregnant with twins.
At 10 weeks, she lost Baby B. Finn, Baby A, survived, but a blood clot caused her water to break at only 24 weeks and led to premature labor. When Finn was born, he only weighed a little over a pound. In the medical field, he’s a micro preemie baby and his condition means staying longer in the hospital.
“Initially, it was just shock,” Jessica said. “I started crying and asking my doctor, ‘What are his chances of survival if you take him out now?’ The doctor said he was safer on the outside than he was inside.”
A few weeks after he was born, Finn was moved from Lakeland Regional Medical Center to Nemours Children’s Hospital’s level 4 NICU.
Finn’s condition took a toll on Jessica’s confidence as a mother.
“I felt a little bit like a failure to be honest because one second he’s inside of [me] and I’m protecting him, and the next he’s out and in a complete separate part of the hospital,” Jessica recalled. “It was terrifying.”
For the next few months, doctors did everything they could to save Finn’s life. He underwent two surgeries – one to fix a hole in his heart and another to correct Necrotizing enterocolitis, a disease that usually affects the bowels of premature newborns.
After his heart surgery, his health and lung condition significantly improved. Finally, after a month-long wait, Jessica got to hold her son for the very first time.
Describing the moment, she said:
“It was unbelievable. You only get to hold their hands, and I had to make due as far as touch goes, but it was a huge relief to watch his stats improve [as I did] skin-to-skin with him. It made me feel like my mom duties were kicking in and he knew who I was.”
The day they’ve all been waiting for finally came on September 10 when Finn was released from the hospital. He is now 4 months old and his weight has gone up to 5 pounds, 5 ounces. Jessica and Chris couldn’t be any happier for their child’s remarkable recovery.
Finn is described by his mother as a good sleeper and a complete joy to be around.
“He just always has this grin on his face. He is so loved, I can’t even tell you,” she said.
Finn is so loved, that he had thousands of people all over the world praying for his recovery. Jessica and Chris document the latest updates on their son in a Facebook page aptly named “Fighting Finn.”
We are so happy that Finn is now home with his parents. While the wait had been long, everyone could see that it was all worth it in the end.