BABY GIRL BORN THE SIZE OF A CHOCOLATE BAR defies odds and makes it home for Christmas
Amiracle baby girl who was born four months early and was the size of a bar of chocolate has defied all the odds to make it home in time for Christmas. Sussie Bea Patrick was born on June 28, just 22 weeks and four days into her mother’s pregnancy and weighed a tiny one pound and one ounce.
Jodie Marrin, 36, and her partner Lee Patrick, 38, who live in Birkenhead, were told to expect the worst when Sussie was born four months early.
However, despite being told by doctors that their baby girl had a tiny chance of survival and would have ‘no quality of life’, Jodie and Lee refused to give up.
Born weighing just one pound and one ounce, Lee believes his daughter may be the smallest baby ever cared for at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral.
Now, five months after she came into the world, Sussie made it home from the neonatal unit to be with her family in time for Christmas.
Lee told the Liverpool Echo that his partner’s pregnancy was perfectly normal and healthy - with no indication Sussie would be born so prematurely.
He said: ‘Everything was fine with mum all the way through. It was sepsis - mum contracted it or baby contracted a bug and passed it on to Jodie.
‘She was feeling unwell for about 24 hours. When it got to 11.30pm on June 27 I said we’re going to the hospital, this isn’t right.
‘She was throwing up. Within 15 minutes she was giving birth in the back of the taxi to hospital. Within about 15 minutes Sussie literally slid out.
‘I grabbed her and said ‘help!’ This was in Arrowe Park in one of the triage wards. About 10 minutes after we got to the hospital she gave birth.’
With Sussie being born at just 22 weeks and four days, her mum and dad were warned their daughter’s chances of survival were virtually non-existant.
Just as they were welcoming their baby girl into the world, Lee and Jodie were told they would need to say their goodbyes.
Lee said: ‘We were told that when she came out we would have to say our goodbyes. ‘They said she wouldn’t be breathing for long and might not look like we expected. They said they would let us be together as a family. She came out and gave a little whimper so they started working on her.
‘We were told it wasn’t worth [treating her]. They said she wouldn’t have a quality of life but we said “look that’s something that we will have to deal with but if she’s fighting we have to fight” and she’s here now.’
Back home with her mum and dad in Birkenhead, Sussie is still on oxygen but Lee says his daughter is ‘perfect’ and called her ‘his little miracle’.
The family lived in Ronald Mcdonald House at Arrowe Park for three and a half months after Sussie was born - and Lee said she’s become something of a celebrity at the hospital.
Lee said lots of the neonatal staff and nurses at the hospital recognise Sussie, and that the family became incredibly close with the staff while she was receiving treatment.
Having ‘been through the wars and back’ Lee and Jodie are over the moon their little fighter is home in time for Christmas with the family that never gave up on her.