REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) — On December 9, a little boy in Eastern Idaho will celebrate something his parents were once told might never happen: his first birthday. Baylor Bybee came into the world on December 9, 2024, at just 27 weeks gestation, weighing a fragile 1 pound, 11 ounces, and measuring only 13 inches long.
His mother, Saige Bybee, remembers the moment doctors delivered the terrifying news that Baylor had stopped growing in the womb and that she had developed severe preeclampsia. “I didn’t know babies could be that small,” Saige said. “It was pretty much a miracle in my mind that this tiny thing was here and living.”
, Baylor’s condition took a dramatic turn. He was diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening intestinal disease that is one of the leading causes of death in premature infants.
What followed were three emergency surgeries, the removal of much of his small intestine, sepsis, and days when his little body swelled to nearly double its weight from fluid.
At one point, doctors called Saige and Slayden Bybee to the NICU in the early morning hours.
“We watched his oxygen numbers for two and a half hours… up one, drop two,” Saige recalled, her voice breaking. “The doctor started asking us personal questions just to distract us. That’s when I knew how close we were to losing him.” But Baylor refused to give up.
Even swollen head-to-toe and on maximum support, he wiggled his toes and pulled out IVs. Slowly,, he stabilized.
After 191 days, more than six months in the neonatal intensive care unit, Baylor went home on June 18, still on oxygen and IV nutrition because of short-gut syndrome.
Today, at almost 20 pounds, he’s learning to sit on his own, tasting his first bites of real food, and flashing triple dimples every time he smiles.
“He chatters, he bounces, he loves Bluey,” Saige laughs. “A few days ago we took the oxygen off for three whole hours and just carried him around the house with nothing attached. It was amazing.”
As Prematurity Awareness Month draws to a close, Saige has a message for every parent sitting bedside in a NICU right now:
“It’s okay to feel how you’re feeling. Your feelings are valid. You’re a good mom — a good parent — just for being there. And miracles can still happen.”
On December 9, the Bybee family will celebrate the day their 1-pound miracle officially turns one.
