Baby Armarni proved to a be fighter and clung on for life despite her tiny size

A baby who was born so early she was the size of her mother’s iPhone has finally been allowed home from hospital – just in time for her first Christmas.

Baby Armarni pictured with mother Glenda Picture: Ron Lamb

Glenda Charlery’s daughter Armarni was born nearly three months prematurely on August 22 at just under 23 weeks.

She was transferred to the high dependency intensive care unit at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel and remained there for three months.

First-time mother Glenda, 30, who lives in Plaistow Grove, Stratford, brought her home on December 12.

Glenda was overjoyed when she found out she was pregnant as she had suffered a miscarriage in 2009 and an ectopic pregnancy after that.

Regular scans showed everything was developing normally. But Glenda was admitted to Newham University Hospital in August when she began bleeding.

Doctors kept her in when an examination found the baby was on its way even though she was only a little over five months pregnant.

Doctors warned her the pregnancy was not viable.

“They said if the baby came, it would be too small and they would not resuscitate the baby because 24 weeks is the cut-off [for resuscitating such premature babies].

Steroids

“So from then on it was a waiting game. I held on for another day, then another until we were at 22 weeks and five days.”

As Glenda got closer to 23 weeks, the doctors told her they could give steroids to help the baby’s lungs develop and that they would intervene if necessary.

“That gave me a bit of hope but when I was 22 weeks and six days my waters broke. I was terrified,” she said.

Baby Armarni was born at just after 5am.

She weighed 520g and was immediately placed in an incubator.

Glenda said: “She was the smallest thing I have ever seen.

“She had all these tubes and she was the length of my iPhone.

“She was tiny and I could see every nerve and bone in her body.”

But the baby began to thrive, and now weighs 4lbs 6ozs.

Glenda said: “She’s the most amazing gift I could ever have asked for.

“She’s alive, she’s thriving and she already has her own personality.

“She’s that 520g baby that the doctors said couldn’t make it.

“She’s showed them that she can.”