At first Eric and Mary Teply’s pregnancy was going well—until they reached their 24th month. Mary was diagnosed with Preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system, often the kidneys.
“I knew something was off. My OB knew something was off the way I looked. I was swelled from head to toe,” Mary recalled in a WOWT NBC Omaha report.
Then the Papillion couple received a bittersweet news: they would be giving birth to a baby boy, but that he would come to the world 16 weeks earlier.
The couple didn’t know whether or not their baby would survive.
READ: What you must know about Preeclampsia
Nathan came to the world weighing 14.99 ounces and measuring 10 inches long—he is one of the world’s smallest baby to have ever lived.
“It’s very closest to the smallest baby in the country. There have been others this size, but it’s one of the smallest ones,” said Dr. Khalid Awad, a neonatologist with Methodist Women’s.
“When the babies first born, it’s a very difficult, very fragile time for the baby. We try and minimize how much we do. We try to get as much done in that first hour. We kind of consider that a golden hour for the baby.”
Photo credit: GoFundMe
Being one of the world’s smallest babies has its downsides. For the first few months of his life, Nathan kidney failed, his brain bled, and suffered pneumonia.
“Luckily based off that HeRO system they were able to catch it early and get him on antibiotics, start labs right away which probably saved his life,” said Mary.
READ: Mother dies of undiagnosed cervical cancer after doctors mistake it for pregnancy complications
With the help of antibiotics, little Nathan’s condition quickly improved. Noe his parents say he’s “quintupled” in size.
“Six days after he was born I got to hold him for at least half an hour…and he was so tiny,” said Mary.
Her decision to come forward and share her story is to help other mothers who has suffered from preeclampsia raise awareness to it.
Mary’s symptoms included intense headaches, swelling, and high blood pressure. Although sometimes, preeclampsia develops without any symptoms. High blood pressure may develop slowly, but more commonly it has a sudden onset.
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