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Premature baby was so small his mother could hold him in her hand. Now he’s going home.
A Sacramento, California, newborn is going home this week after he was born at just 22 weeks in May. The boy weighed just over a pound at birth, but now weighs 6 pounds, 3 ounces. (2013 file photo/Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images)

Premature baby was so small his mother could hold him in her hand. Now he’s going home.

A Sacramento, California, newborn is going home this week after he was born prematurely at just 22 weeks, KCRA-TV reported.

According to KCRA, the baby’s mom, Chastity, was told her due date was Sept. 7. But her son, Lawrence, was born when she unexpectedly went into labor at home May 9.

“I didn't even know I was in labor at first," Chastity told KCRA. "He wasn't a regular baby. He was blue and purple. I didn't think he was going to live, and I'm looking at my son like, 'Oh my God, please live. Don't die on me.'"

Paramedics arrived and took Chastity and her son, a micro-preemie, to the hospital. On the way, they wrapped Lawrence in medical foil in an effort to keep him warm.

"You see this huge firefighter with this small infant trying to breathe for him,” Chastity said. “I'm like, ‘Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness, you survived.’"

Lawrence weighed just over a pound at birth. He now weighs 6 pounds, 3 ounces, KCRA reported.

“I held him like this,” Chastity said, holding up her hand.

Lawrence underwent treatment at Sutter Health’s NICU in Sacramento.

Sutter Health Director of Pediatrics Paul Walsh told KCRA, "There are a lot of children this age who would not survive, particularly in the circumstances of an emergency home delivery."

"He's going out into the world with lots of support, and he's lucky to be going out to it at all," Walsh said.

Chastity said her son survived because he is “a champ.”

“He’s feisty, that’s the main thing that kept him alive,” she added.

KCRA reported that a micro-preemie as young as Lawrence has only about a 5 percent chance of surviving.

"He's definitely my miracle baby. I don't know what I would have done if he didn't survive," Chastity said. "He's my first child. I'd rather sit here and fight for him than to bury my own child."

Lawrence is expected to go home this week, according to KCRA.

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