Baby born at 22 weeks leaves Norfolk hospital for home

Five months after Lilly Rae was born, her parents Shane Rumbles and Tayla Menear are finally able to take her home

A hospital's youngest premature baby who was born more than four months early has been allowed to go home.

Lilly Rae was born on 9 December at just 22 weeks and two days gestation at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Weighing just over a pound (511g) Lilly was the most pre-term baby the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit had cared for.

Mother Tayla Menear said she could not believe the day had come to take her daughter home.

"We never dared hope that this could happen," said Ms Menear.

Tayla Menear gave birth in December to Lilly Rae who weighed just over a pound

She was just 21 weeks and four days into her pregnancy when she was admitted to hospital with a suspected infection, broken waters and threatened preterm labour.

Lilly's parents were told by a doctor the NICU had only ever seen one previous baby born at 22 weeks survive.

Lilly Rae was helped to reach full-term by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Lilly's heart was beating when she was born but had very little breathing and movements, as expected for a baby born so early and it meant she had to spend seven weeks on a ventilator.

During that time Lilly suffered three serious infections, a bleed on her brain and she had to undergo major surgery on a distended intestine.

Then the coronavirus lockdown meant Ms Menear and partner Shane Rumbles - who could only hold Lilly a month after she was born - could no longer visit their daughter together or for very long.

Ms Menear said: "For the first few months of Lilly's life no-one knew if we would ever reach the point of going home as a family.

"I have since come across other cases and now want people to know if they go into labour at 22 weeks not to feel hopeless. There is always a chance."

Lilly Rae can now go home but will continue to receive support from the NICU team

In 2018, the latest year with published data, just 845 live births were recorded in England of babies with a gestational age of less than 24 weeks, according to the Office for National Statistics.

This represented 0.14% of the 625,310 live births recorded that year.

Data from 2016 shows 84% of babies born under 24 weeks England and Wales did not survive more than four weeks.

Lilly's consultant neonatologist Dr Priya Muthukumar said it was too early to predict whether the baby's long-term health would be affected.

She said: "Nevertheless, we are reasonably optimistic for Lilly because her brain scans while in the neonatal unit have been reassuring and she has made very encouraging progress so far."

Ms Menear said staff at the unit had been "incredible".