In a long-sought-after day worth celebrating, the smallest baby ever born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center “graduated” from the hospital on Friday, 10 months after her birth.
According to tradition for such events, the parents of Ellyannah Lopez moved the tassel of her pink graduate cap from the left to the right as the hospital celebrated with a “baby graduation” ceremony from the neonatal intensive care unit.
The baby’s mother, Cecia Juarez, went into labor three-and-a-half months early in the spring of 2023.
The baby, also known as “Elly,” was less than 13 ounces at the time of her birth with “slim” chances at survival. She struggled with chronic lung disease and had multiple setbacks during her 300-plus days in the hospital.
Now, at a much stronger 17 pounds, she finally gets to live in the outside world.
“Today, we get to take our daughter home after 10 months,” Juarez said. “We came last spring in 2023, and we said after the summer, for sure in the fall we’re going to take her home, and then the holidays came, and we said for sure in the winter and here we are.”
Juarez said the hospital’s staff was “like a family” to Elly.
Elly will continue to require care at home for many more months, including a feeding tube and oxygen. However, she’s expected to recover well into the future.
“We’ll go home with a baby who hasn’t been out in the real world, which I think is the real challenge, and we will have to be there to support her and show her the world and show her what she’s been missing for the last 10 months,” Juarez said.
The overjoyed mother said when her daughter is old enough to understand the fight she endured to be here today, she hopes the one lesson Elly will take from the story is that, “If you can graduate from the NICU, you can do anything in your life.”
In an effort to support her needs, Juarez set up an online fundraiser on GoFundMe to raise money for Elly’s at-home care.
“To be almost a year later, about to take our miracle baby home, we’re so very grateful,” Juarez said. “I had the opportunity to see [Elly] finish developing with the help of these amazing doctors and that has been something that we will never take for granted. We want to take this opportunity to thank Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.”