Baby born weighing just 1 lb. heads home from Lurie Children's: 'She came out feisty'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A baby born weighing just one pound is beating all the odds.

Baby Autumn left Lurie Children's Hospital in Streeterville to head home after spending over 500 days in the NICU.

Tyler Robinson gave birth just 23 weeks into her pregnancy after suffering a uterine rupture. Her baby girl was given a 50-50 chance of survival.

"The doctor asked me, 'If she comes out, what do you wanna do?'" Robinson said. "I'm like, 'If she comes out lifeless, then pass me my baby, and I'll hold her,' but I'm like 'if she comes out fighting, then we gonna fight.' And she came out feisty, and they nicknamed her 'Feisty.' From then on, I'm like, she's just a fighter."

And fight she did, as her tiny body battled through chronic lung disease and an inconsistent heart rate.

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"In babies who have lung disease like Autumn, sometimes the heart has trouble pumping blood through, so the blood doesn't pick up oxygen like it should," said Dr. Megan Lagoski, a neonatologist at Lurie.

And through every step, Baby Autumn kept beating the odds.

"She looks fantastic," Lagoski said. "She's working on getting developmental milestones, she's rolling all over the place, she smiles, she laughs."

Now 17 months old, Autumn said goodbye to the medical team that has become her second family. She will still need constant care for several years.

"She has a tube in her neck to help her breathe at home, she gets fed through a G-tube through her stomach," Lagoski said. "So she's very technology dependent."

Much of that work will now fall on her mom, who is a single parent. But she said she wouldn't change a thing.

"I'm very excited," Robinson said. "I'm ready. I'm nervous, anxious. It's been long overdue."