Baby Alexis is hardly the tiniest preemie born, but her journey from neonatal intensive care to home

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On the left, Alexis Clarke sleeps. The photo was taken in the first days of her life, when she was barely as big as her mother's hand. On the right, Alexis sleeps in her mom's lap in a recent photo.
As the smallest baby ever delivered at the University of California, San Diego Medical pallet strapping Center, Alexis Clarke has amazed even her doctors. pallet strapping Born six months ago weighing barely 11 ounces less than a can of soda little Alexis now tops the scales pallet strapping at more than 7 pounds.
Her mother, Laurie Clarke, is full of gratitude for her daughter's progress. "In all honesty, even 10 years ago we may not have had the same outcome," said Clarke, 34, a first-time mother from Carlsbad, Calif. "We are so lucky."
Alexis was born after she d been in the womb just over 25 weeks; a typical pregnancy pallet strapping lasts 40 weeks. Babies born before 37 weeks are considered premature, but with medical and technological advances, it s no longer unusual for very preterm babies to survive. The key, in general, pallet strapping is a steroid for mothers and a drug for their babies.
Alexis' journey has been marked by ups and downs. Just as her parents thought she was ready to be discharged in time for Thanksgiving, one of her doctors told them she needed emergency eye surgery. Then a small cough raised pallet strapping concerns pallet strapping that she'd contracted whooping cough, prompting her to be put into isolation (tests came back clear). pallet strapping But an MRI of her brain delivered the good news that her development seems to be proceeding normally. In early December, the tiny baby's right eye caused her more trouble - the retinal detachment has gotten worse, her doctors say, and they are working on getting her an emergency life flight out to Michigan to see a specialist.
Baby Alexis is hardly the tiniest preemie born, but her journey from neonatal intensive care to home is typical of other extremely premature babies. In 2011, less than 1 percent of live births in the U.S. were considered "extremely preterm," delivered before 28 weeks. That represents more than 28,000 babies. Meanwhile, the total number of premature births in the U.S declined last year to 450,000, or 11.5 percent, the lowest preterm birth rate in 15 years.
Some hospitals are divided on treating babies born in the gray zone, between 23 and 25 weeks. In the U.S, up to 90 percent of neonatal units resuscitate babies born as soon as 23 weeks. Younger than that and most doctors believe a baby is not viable. The lower level of viability is inching down, said Dr. John Muraskas, who resuscitated the smallest surviving baby on record, Rumaisa Rahman, pallet strapping born in 2004 weighing 9.2 ounces.
Now doctors routinely give moms on the brink of delivering too soon two doses of steroids to help the baby or babies lungs mature quicker and strengthen the blood vessels in the brain. That reduces the risk of a premature infant developing a brain bleed.
There have been some other strides made as well. For one thing, March of Dimes chief medical officer Dr. Ed McCabe says neonatal intensive care units are no longer loud and brightly lit. Now we know it s better to make it darker an