‘He was so tiny he fit in my bra’: Baby boy born weighing just 1 POUND finally home after 181 days in hospital

A mom who was told her baby “wouldn’t make it” after he was born small enough to fit in her bra is now home and thriving after 181 days in the hospital.

Zaylan Reed, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, weighed just 1 pound 6 oz when he was born after Krysten Risbon, 22, gave birth at 23 weeks and six days — 16 weeks premature.

He had a hole in his heart and spent the next several months on and without ventilators because his lungs were too immature to allow him to breathe on his own.

But “miracle” baby Zaylan is finally home and thriving, and Krysten, inspired by her time in the hospital, is now studying to become a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse.

Mrs Ribson and Janerio Reed, 20, (pictured left) were over the moon when they found out they were expecting their first baby in August 2022. When he was born, Zaylan had a hole in his heart and spent the next 181 days on and off oxygen

Mrs Ribson said: ‘When I first held him, he was in my bra. Now only his foot fits in it.

“They told us he probably wouldn’t make it. He’s a little fighter. He’s a miracle.’

Ms Ribson and Janerio Reed, 20, a detailer, were overjoyed when they found out they were expecting their first baby in August 2022.

Ms Ribson started bleeding at 23 weeks and six days and went to hospital, but the doctors assumed it was a yeast infection and sent her home with medicine.

But her pain only got worse. “I’ve been screaming all night,” she said.

The couple returned to the hospital when the pain did not subside and the doctors discovered she was 4 cm dilated.

Mrs Ribson said: ‘They said, ‘You’re having this baby today. He’s probably not going to make it’. I started to cry.’

The mother-to-be was flown by helicopter to UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, which specializes in small baby items.

Doctors gave her steroids to help the baby’s lungs and were able to interrupt labor for another two days, until December 23, 2022.

Mr Reed cut the umbilical cord before his son was taken to the neonatal ward.

Each year in the US, about 5,000 babies are born in the uncertain period between 22 and 23 weeks.

Babies who are earlier than 22 weeks old are generally too physically underdeveloped to be successfully treated in intensive care and have only a 30 percent chance of survival.

Mrs Ribson said: ‘When they took him down I was quite scared. It was so small it fit in the palm of my hand.’

Zaylan was born with a hole in his heart and spent the next 181 days on and without oxygen.

He had surgery after being born with ROP – an eye disease that can occur when babies are born prematurely – to improve his eyesight.

Finally, after getting a feeding tube, Zaylan was able to come home on June 21, 2023.

Mrs Ribson said, ‘It was surreal to have him at home. It’s pretty insane. I can’t believe how small he was.

“He used to hold my finger with his whole hand. He used to be the size of a thumbprint on his foot.’

She said, “He’s pretty funny. He’s a grump – he looks at me to the side.’

But she added that he’s also “laughing and smiling all the time.”

Mrs. Ribson will be attending Mount Aloysius College in the fall to become a nurse.