Rumaisa:Home comming

Maywood (Illinois), Feb. 9 (AP): Rumaisa Rahman ? the world?s tiniest baby to survive ? went home yesterday after a nearly six months? stay in hospital.

Born to an Indian couple, the baby weighed even less than 243.80 gm and measured 24.765 cm at the time of birth.

Rumaisa?s prognosis ?is very good?, and she is expected to have normal physical and mental development, said physician Jonathan Muraskas, who provided care for the tiny girl and her larger twin sister, Hiba, after their birth on September 19, 2004, at Loyola University Medical Center outside Chicago.

Rumaisa now weighs 2.49 kg and is almost 43 cm long. The tiny girl still requires constant oxygen support ? common for premature babies with underdeveloped lungs ? but will be gradually weaned from the oxygen tank, said Loyola spokesperson Stephen Davidow.

The babies were delivered by Caesarean section 14 weeks premature at just 25 weeks? gestation after their mother developed pre-eclampsia, involving dangerously high blood pressure.

In January last year, 23-year-old Mahajabeen Shaik married Mohammed Abdul Rahman, 32, in Hyderabad and moved to the Chicago suburb of Hanover Park.

The couple came under the arclights after Mahajabeen gave birth to premature twins with Rumaisa the size of a cellphone and weighing lighter than a soft drink can.

Rumaisa ? meaning white as milk in Arabic ? had a normal head and there was no bleeding in her brain, a common complication for premature babies leading to cerebral palsy.