Baby Bilal, who was born 17 weeks prematurely at just over 23 weeks gestation, is finally home after spending a year at Children’s Minnesota, right in time for his first birthday!
When Bilal was born on March 24, 2024, he weighed just 8 ounces (228 grams). That’s roughly the weight of a small cup of coffee and tiny enough to fit in the palm of one hand.
That makes Bilal the smallest reported surviving infant in the U.S., and the second smallest in the world, according to the Tiniest Babies Registry.
Beating the odds
Born at The Mother Baby Center, a partnership between Allina Health and Children’s Minnesota, Bilal is the last of his quintuplet siblings making his journey home. Despite only having about a 10% chance of survival for all five babies being born so prematurely, the quintuplets beat the impossible odds. All five siblings not only survived but are expected to develop normally. That’s thanks to the life-saving expertise of the neonatology program at Children’s Minnesota, one of the largest neonatology programs in the country with almost 200 neonatal beds, caring for more than 2000 babies annually.
Hawa, the quintuplet’s mom, shares her gratitude when asked about her experience at Children’s Minnesota. “I’m very grateful. This [Children’s Minnesota] is their first home. When they’re older, I hope to bring them back to see this place.”
The quintuplets – Abdi, Amina, Amir, Bilal and Saada – will continue to be monitored closely through the Children’s Minnesota Intensive Care Follow-up Clinic for the months and years to come.
“Caring for such a tiny baby is incredibly challenging. Bilal and his siblings required the full range of expert care we provide at The Mother Baby Center, from the maternal-fetal specialists at Allina Health to the neonatal expertise at Children’s Minnesota,” said Tom George, MD, system medical director of neonatology at Children’s Minnesota. “It took a team of hundreds of neonatal experts to get Bilal and his siblings to this point. Our team is thrilled for Bilal to finally be going home to join his brothers and sisters!”
Bilal meets his siblings for the first time
Watch as Bilal meets his siblings, Abdi, Amina, Amir and Saada, for the first time! Hawa and her community organized a celebration to thank her care team for the exceptional care her children received at Children’s Minnesota – the first time all five babies were in the same room at the same time!