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Tiny baby kept in sandwich bag finally goes home

BBC Baby Robyn in a pink jumper. She has long blond hair, her eyes are closed and she has a breathing tube in her nose. Mum also has light hair a printed blouse. She is hold Robyn and smiling. Dad Daniel is in a T-shirt and is snuggled in to his wife on their couchBBC
Robyn is finally home with her mum and dad Chantelle and Daniel after 18 months in hospital

The parents of a baby who was born weighing just 11oz (328g) and kept in a sandwich bag to keep her safe have finally been able to bring her home for the first time after 18 months.

Robyn arrived five months early in March 2023 at Grange Hospital in Cwmbran, Torfaen, and still needs round-the-clock care.

Her parents, Chantelle, 34, and Daniel, 38, from Malpas, Newport, are fundraising for treatment.

"It's like a dream come true to have Robyn home," said her mum.

Robyn was born at 23 weeks and two days, was so small that she fitted in the palm of a hand, and put in a sandwich bag to keep her vital organs warm while she grew.

Six months after her birth Robyn was moved for seven months to the paediatric intensive care unit at Noah's Ark Children's Hospital in Cardiff, before going back to Grange until her discharge in September.

"It's just so nice to just do normal family things... and just all be together under one roof," said Chantelle, who works part-time as an accountant.

"It's obviously less chaotic at home," said Daniel, a self-employed bricklayer who has had to pull back from his work to focus on his daughter's care.

Family photos Baby Robyn in a sandwich bag. She is tiny with tubes in mouth and nose and monitors on her legs. She's held in the hands of nurses caring for her. A second picture on the right shows her bigger, looking more like a toddler. She has blonde hair and chubby cheeks. Her eyes are closed and she has a feeding tube in one nostril and oxygen tubes on her mouth. Family photos
Robyn was kept in a sandwich bag after her birth, and she is now 18 months old

Robyn is fed oxygen and nutrition through tubes in her nose and mouth, her vital signs are monitored at all times and she takes 30 doses of medication a day.

"She can't cough so we have to suction her mouth and her nose when she needs it through-out the day," said her mum.

Daniel described her as thriving and enjoying the "peace" of home.

"Obviously we do a lot of physio with her and interact doing sensory play," he added.

Family photo Daniel and Chantelle sitting with Robyn in hospital. Robyn is tiny, the size of her mum's hand as she snuggles into her chest. Family photo
Daniel and Chantelle were with their baby daughter 24/7 while she was in hospital

Chantelle said it was hard to bond with her daughter in a big open hospital ward with doctors and nurses coming and going at all hours.

"All you can do is just sit next to her and just watch," she said, "and keep watching the numbers on the screen hoping she will pull through.

"When Robyn was born, we we weren't sure if she was going to make it.

"As time went on she was getting bigger and stronger, but there was still a lot of problems that she was having, and it became quite clear that her brain damage was going to have quite a profound effect on her."

'We know nothing is impossible'

"We didn't find out about her brain damage until about six months after her birth," Daniel said.

"You've got all these sort of plans in your head, of how life's gonna be and then they sort of get all thrown away," he said.

"But we try and stay positive.

"We know with Robyn nothing is impossible because she's been told so many times she's isn't gonna do this and she won't survive this and she does.

"She's an open book and I think she'll write her own history."