De Mena was only 27 weeks pregnant.
The mother said she was “so scared” to undergo the emergency C-section that would deliver her daughter.
“They helped me a lot,” de Mena says of the staff at Nassau University Medical Center. “I was crying in the surgery room, but they held my hands, and they told me everything is for your baby,” she told a local news station at the special ceremony.
When she was born, Hannah weighed only 1 pound, 4 ounces. The smallest baby to ever be born at the hospital, she was the size of an average adult hand.
De Mena used the ceremony to thank hospital staff for taking such wonderful care of her and Hannah over the last four months.
“I never lost my faith,” de Mena said. “She’s always going to be my beautiful baby, and I love her.”
Hannah’s original due date was in October. Now this month, she’s finally going home, a happy and healthy baby for the first time.
Doctors say the miracle baby is stable and thriving. She will still attend regular check-ups for premature newborns, but for now, de Mena is just excited to get her daughter home.
