Premature ‘miracle baby’ getting ready to head home after weighing just 14 ounces at birth

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV/Gray News) - A family says they are finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel after their son was born three months prematurely.

After months in the hospital, Madelyn and Gabe Heredia’s “miracle baby” will get to go home soon.

The couple said they received unexpected news last September during a routine appointment that their unborn son, Teddy, was diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction, where the baby does not grow as expected while inside the womb.

“We found out that he was incredibly small and very growth-restricted. We had a lot of placenta issues, so he was losing blood flow fast so the longer he stayed inside, the more dangerous it was,” Madelyn Heredia said. “We were sort of given more of a death sentence for him than anything.”

Last November, doctors at Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, delivered Teddy at 27 weeks, weighing just 14 ounces with a 10% survival rate.

“He was just so fragile, so tiny, so dependent on all of this equipment,” Madelyn Heredia said.

The Heredias had two other children at home and took turns at the hospital staying with Teddy.

After battling infections and pneumonia, things took a turn for the better on New Year’s Day.

Madelyn Heredia said a steroid shot, betamethasone, might have saved Teddy’s life.

“That’s what got his lungs able to do anything,” she said.

Teddy remains on respiratory support and will have to be careful when it comes to germs during his first two years, but he is expected to live a full and healthy life.

The Heredia family says they hope to take their little guy home by the end of this week.

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