• News
  • Life
  • TV & Film
  • Beauty
  • Style
  • Home
  • News
    • Celebrity
    • Entertainment
    • Politics
    • Royal Family
  • Life
    • Animals
    • Food & Drink
    • Women's Health
    • Mental Health
    • Sex & Relationships
    • Travel
    • Real Life
  • TV & Film
    • True Crime
    • Documentaries
    • Netflix
    • BBC
    • ITV
    • Tyla Recommends
  • Beauty
    • Hair
    • Make-up
    • Skincare
  • Style
    • Home
    • Fashion
    • Shopping
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
Submit Your Content
Baby born ‘transparent’ at 22 weeks has now said first words

Home> Life> Parenting

Published 11:00 4 Sep 2023 GMT+1

Baby born ‘transparent’ at 22 weeks has now said first words

Eli James, who was born at 22 weeks when his arms were the size of his mum's fingers, has defied the odds and has said his first word.

Gregory Robinson

Gregory Robinson

A baby who was deemed not viable when he was born ‘transparent’ at 22 weeks has said his first words.

Eli James, who is now a year old, was born in March 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada weighing only 1lb 3oz.

He was so premature that his parents, Paloma Aguila, 34, who is originally from Mexico, and her husband, Eliesar, a business owner, 45, were prepared for the worst.

Mum Paloma, who also has three older children, recalled Eli’s difficult start in life, explaining: "We had an ultrasound one Friday when I was 22 weeks and one day pregnant, and everything appeared normal.

Advert

Eli James was born at 22 weeks.
Caters

"Then my water broke that Friday evening, at midnight, and early Saturday morning, I went to the hospital.

"When I arrived, they told me that I was 3 centimetres dilated and that the baby was not viable.”

The best advice medics could give Paloma was to attempt to delay her pregnancy, but she already had Chorioamnionitis, an infection of the placenta, that was putting both their lives in danger.

Advert

"They brought in a team of specialists, and it was ultimately agreed upon that I should stay in the hospital as long as possible on bedrest.

"But they made it very clear, because I already had an infection, that if that infection progressed, they would stop monitoring the baby.

"At that point, they would just be about saving me."

Eli was not deemed 'viable' when he was born.
Caters

Advert

While Paloma did try to delay her pregnancy, Eli entered the world sooner rather than later and did so that Sunday at 11:30 pm, less than two days after her water broke.

The situation had deteriorated by then to the point where Eli had been disconnected from the monitors as Paloma's infection had progressed, as feared, into bacteremia - when bacteria gets into a person's bloodstream - which resulted in a fever.

"But thankfully, when Eli was born, he was trying to breathe on his own," she said.

Eli turned one in March this year.
Caters

Advert

"I did get an ultrasound before this. The doctor stepped aside and said, 'He's practising breathing in there, you can see it, and that's very rare for his gestation.'"

Eli was so small that his arm was the size of Paloma's finger and she could see right through his body, which was so tiny that medics attempted to use the smallest needle in the country to treat him.

She explained: "When I saw him, it was scary.

"But I always have faith. I had faith that if he made it this far, that he was strong."

Advert

Eli has said his first words.
Caters

And Eli has since gone from strength to strength following his difficult entrance to the world.

Paloma, who is a stay-at-home mum, said: "He's starting to walk right now, and he's saying his first words - Dadda was the first. Everyone has been surprised with his progress.

"While he's a little smaller than most one-year-olds, he is catching up quite fast."

Paloma said the only sign of Eli's difficult start in life are small scars on his body, but apart from that, he is a completely healthy baby.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: Health, Parenting, US News, Life, Real Life, Pregnancy

Gregory Robinson
Gregory Robinson

Gregory is a journalist working for Tyla. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, he has worked for both print and online publications and is particularly interested in TV, (pop) music and lifestyle. He loves Madonna, teen dramas from the '90s and prefers tea over coffee.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

2 days ago
  • Matthew Horwood/Getty ImagesMatthew Horwood/Getty Images
    2 days ago

    Doctor reveals surprising NSFW side effect you will experience after quitting vaping

    If you're having some issues in the bedroom, nicotine could be the unlikely culprit

    Life
  • Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty ImagesWitthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images
    2 days ago

    Scientists reveal what you see the moment you die

    A 2023 study astonishingly recorded the brain activity of a person at the moment of death for the first time

    Life
  • Getty Stock ImagesGetty Stock Images
    2 days ago

    Doctor reveals what happens to your body if you use sex toys as popular myth debunked

    More than half of women in the United States have used a vibrator, according to one study

    Life
  • Getty Stock ImageGetty Stock Image
    2 days ago

    Dentist reveals telltale sign that shows how much oral sex you have

    Instagram's Dr Britany Baker and TikTok medic Dr Huzefa Kapadia claimed they can also tell how vigorous raunchiness was

    Life
  • The world’s ‘oldest baby’ has been born in the US
  • Girl born in 2020 is no longer the ‘world’s oldest baby’
  • Everything we know after ‘world’s oldest baby’ is born in the US
  • Mum reveals unbelievable story of how her baby was ‘born twice’ due to rare condition