Baby Born At 13 Ounces Celebrating 1st Birthday In Galloway

MaKenna Spruill will celebrate her birthday twice a year: the day she was born and the day she left the Intensive Care Unit nearly four months later.

MaKenna was born 16 weeks premature at 13.7 ounces and 10 3/4 inches tall. She was AtlantiCare's lowest-birth-weight surviving baby since the hospital opened its Neonatal ICU in 1972. She will celebrate her first birthday Tuesday at AtlantiCare in Pomona.

When MaKenna's mother, Alyssa Spruill, was 24 weeks pregnant, she developed severe pre-eclampsia, a condition that often leads to smaller or prematurely born babies. There was a possibility Spruill would have a stroke and lose her baby.

Hundreds of AtlantiCare staffers took care of Alyssa and MaKenna through the whole process. MaKenna was born March 12, 2018, 16 weeks before her July 1 due date.

Dana Beatty, RN, a nurse in AtlantiCare's NICU, nicknamed her "Mighty McKenna." MaKenna left the NICU 113 days later at 4 pounds, 10 ounces and 16 3/4 inches tall. Now MaKenna is nearly 15 pounds and 24 1/2 inches tall.

"One of the things that most amazes me is how observant MaKenna is,” Alyssa Spruill said in a statement. “She loves playing ‘peek-a-boo’ with her siblings. She laughs so hard when she plays with them. She’s got attitude and a voice! She lets us know when she wants something.”

MaKenna and her mother will reunite with members of their AtlantiCare team for the birthday celebration at 10 a.m. Tuesday at AtlantiCare's Mainland Campus New Café.

Here's a video from AtlantiCare of MaKenna coming home from the hospital: