Miracle Baby Beats Survival Odds

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Doctors say premature babies have a low rate of survival, but here in Bakersfield, ABC23 found one baby born three months early who's beating the odds.

Breanne Smith, 19, was overjoyed when she found out she was pregnant with a baby boy. That joy soon turned to fear when she was rushed to the hospital three months early for an emergency C-section.

"It's really unbelievable how small he is ... Like a kitten ... tiny," said Smith.

Branson Smith was born weighing 1 pound 4 ounces in August. Smith said he wasn't due until December.

She said she developed eclampsia, a condition that creates seizures during pregnancy.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, eclampsia follows preeclampsia, a serious complication of pregnancy marked by high blood pressure, weight gain, and protein in the urine. The site suggests it is difficult to predict which women with preeclampsia will go on to have seizures. Women with very high blood pressure, headaches, vision changes, or abnormal blood tests have severe preeclampsia and are at high risk for seizures.

Doctors said the survival rate of a baby being born three and a half months premature is only 10 percent.

Smith said all she can do is have hope and take it day by day.

Baby Branson is almost three months old now and weighs three-and-a-half pounds.

Smith said if everything continues to go as well as it has, Branson could be headed home on what would have been his birthday.