BETHPAGE, Long Island (WABC) -- The family of a baby born 16 weeks early during the COVID-19 pandemic returned to a hospital on Long Island to thank the medical staff that saved her life.
Parents Maria and Andrew Petti were driving from their home in Farmingdale to the hospital on Feb. 15, but Mikayla wouldn't wait.
Born at just 24 weeks, she only weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces and wasn't breathing well. Her heart rate was not in the normal range.
Dr. John Mathew at Saint Joseph Hospital carefully pumped oxygen into her tiny, paper-thin lungs for more than an hour to allow her to breathe.
"It was a miracle that she's here with us, this cute little baby girl, but she's a little fighter, so you know I'm happy to see her smiling," her doctor said.
Mikayla spent the first 122 days of her life at the hospital.
"They are amazing people and what they do every day - the emotional and physical support to the families, to caring for these babies like their own, it has left a lasting impression on us," Maria Petti said.
On Wednesday, her parents said she is a healthy and happy 6-month-old baby girl.
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