When Amillia Taylor was born she weighed no more than a can of fizzy drink and was about the size of a ballpoint pen. The amazing picture of her tiny feet cradled in a doctor's hands stunned the world. That was when she broke all records by being born five months early and weighing barely 290g. The world's most premature baby is now a healthy 3.1kg and has multiplied in size.
Little Amillia is happily thriving, having beaten all the odds to survive, and is a picture of health. "She really is my little fighter and from the moment she was born I always knew that she would survive," Mrs Taylor said. "Compared with what she was like (when she was born) she's absolutely huge and I just love holding her.
"We do call her our little miracle and we never forget how fortunate we are.
"People talk about Amillia being the world's youngest baby. She might well be that, but to us she's just our Amillia and our dream come true."
Dad Eddie said: "Even before Amillia was born she was always going to be special, but when we think about what she's gone through to be here, she's extra, extra special".
While mum, 36, and dad, 46, fuss over Amillia, they know all too well it was a different story in October 2006.
Then, they were given the grim news that their first child, conceived by IVF, was unlikely to survive. Doctors in Miami had warned them they did not resuscitate babies who were born under 24 weeks. Mrs Taylor knew she was several weeks short of that cut-off point when she went into premature labour following a difficult pregnancy.
Doctors were able to delay the birth for 20 days, but, on October 24, 2006, were forced to carry out an emergency Caesarean operation. Amillia was delivered at just 21 weeks and six days. Full-term births are delivered between 37 and 40 weeks. She had spent less time in the womb than any other known baby and the tiny scrap of life weighed less than 290g. She was measured at 24cm long and her skin was so thin that doctors could clearly see the veins and bones.
Amillia was so fragile the doctor who delivered her tore off her left ear accidentally with his hand as he reached in to pull her out of the womb. The ear was later re-attached by a plastic surgeon. Amazing photographs of Amillia alongside a ballpoint pen showed to the world just how small she really was.
But Mrs Taylor, a special-needs teacher, knew her baby daughter always had the will to live. Having tried for more than a decade to have a child, she says she knew Amillia would pull through. She chose the name Amillia after browsing for names on the Internet. In Latin, the word means resilient.
"Very few babies born as early as Amillia survive, but as soon as Amillia came out she was trying to breathe," Mrs Taylor said.
"She was also trying to cry and also had one of her eyes half open. "Her lungs were only 15 per cent developed because she was so premature but the doctors said she was trying to take in some air.
"I knew at that moment that whatever happened Amillia was going to live.
"I think the doctors knew they had a fighter on their hands and they did everything possible to help her survive."
Mrs Taylor said nurses handed her the baby almost immediately because they were convinced that she was going to die. "They wanted me to see her when she was alive, but not for one minute did I ever think Amillia was going to die. "I could just tell that she wanted to live and if the doctors and nurses could help her then she would have a fighting chance."
Mrs Taylor said that in the first few weeks nurses tried to prepare her for the death of her daughter. "They were more worried than me," she said. "I looked at Amillia and just knew she was going to make it." Mr Taylor, a road engineer, added: "We knew before the birth that if she hadn't taken a breath or showed much sign of life the doctors were unlikely to do anything. But my little girl came out breathing and they knew they had a fighter on their hands. It's hard to describe now, but Amillia was always meant to be."
The tiny tot was rushed to the intensive care unit at Miami's Baptist Hospital where staff maintained a round-the-clock vigil. Mrs Taylor was unable to hold her baby for two weeks as she was suffering from a blood infection and couldn't risk spreading it to Amillia. But Mr Taylor couldn't wait to change her first nappy. "Amillia was so small the nappies made specially for premature babies were too big," he said. "When we put it on her it was almost the length of her body. She was just swamped by the thing and that's when I really realised just how small she was." Mrs Taylor smiles with delight as she recalls cuddling Amillia for the first time.
"She was so light that I was scared to hurt her," she said. "But when the nurses placed her on my chest, I could feel her warmth and feel her breathing. It really was a special moment.
"I loved it when she started to cry. It was so faint that it sounded like a cat crying, but it proved to me Amillia had the strength to live. Amillia spent a total of four months in hospital before doctors said she was well enough to go home. The cost of her medical treatment is likely to be more than $1 million - the tab picked up by Mr Taylor's health insurance company. Since arriving at the couple's bungalow-style home, Amillia has steadily been gaining weight and height.She still needs oxygen supplements and is linked to a heart monitor but happily takes milk eight times a day.
"She has also developed quite a pair of lungs on her now and I call her the queen of screams," Mrs Taylor said. "Incredibly, she's also started teething a little bit although there are no teeth."
Mrs Taylor is hopeful doctors will soon give Amillia the all-clear to stop using the supplemental oxygen as her lungs develop even further, but the couple's biggest fear is that she will get an infection or a cold, which could prove fatal. That has meant they have rarely been able to take her out in the Florida sunshine. "We know we have to take it slowly, as we have to be very careful Amillia doesn't catch a cold," Mrs Taylor said. "When we came home, so many people wanted to come and see her, but we couldn't let them in for fear Amillia might catch a cold."
The couple admit they are overwhelmed to know their baby is a record-breaker and have been flooded with messages of goodwill from around the world. "We're so glad that people were pleased with Amillia's survival," Mrs Taylor said. "But no matter how happy they are, it can never match how Eddie and I feel."
"We're blessed."
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