Webster Miracle Baby Celebrates 21st Birthday TodayNORTH WEBSTER- Stella and Larry Hollingsworth were told their daughter Amanda, born 133 days premature, had less than a 1 percent chance to live past 10 days of birth.
Amanda fought to beat the odds. Today, she will celebrate her 21st birthday with family and friends.
Amanda was born at Parkview Hospital, Fort Wayne, April 16, 1988, at 7:16 a.m. Amanda's original due date was Aug. 18, 1988.Amanda was born premature at 1 pound, 2 ounces and was 11 inches long.
At 18 weeks, having entered Parkview Hospital, it was determined that Stella's placenta was torn, and was losing tissue. She went into natural labor, and gave birth to Amanda.
Amanda breathed on her own for eight minutes, then was attached to a life support system. She was nurtured in an incubator for three months, and was first held by Stella at 4 months.
Becky Rathel was the nurse who delivered Amanda at Parkview Hospital 21 years ago. She said she never forgot delivering Amanda. Rathel now is a nurse at Dekalb Hospital, Auburn.
"I remember Amanda was very tiny when she was born, and we didn't get Stella out of the labor room into the delivery room before Amanda was born," Rathel said.
Rathel said in the nursing profession a nurse may never know how they will touch a family, but she will never forget delivering Amanda.
Stella said Amanda's skin was as thin as one-ply tissue paper when she was born.
Amanda had bleeding on her brain, and doctors said she would be blind, deaf and mentally challenged. Amanda also had a hole in her heart and a surgeon from Chicago was called in to operate on Amanda.
The doctor informed the family he had never successfully operated on a baby that was less than a pound.
"I was angry at God at the time, and all I could question was how he gave me a baby that was going to die, but none of us are guaranteed and children are a gift on loan," Stella said.
Amanda did not have fingernails, only nail buds, and her lungs were smaller than tea bags. Amanda had trouble eating and had a deformed kidney.
Stella said doctors told the couple they had a better chance to win the lottery than for Amanda to live 10 days because they were told babies that small don't live.
Pastor Jim Robbins, who was the Hollingsworth's pastor at the time at Silver Lake Wesleyan Church, prayed for Amanda in the hospital with the family.
"I walked in the hospital the day after a doctor had advised Stella to abort Amanda," Robbins said.
Robbins anointed Stella's stomach while Amanda was in it. He said a prayer that if God wanted Amanda to live, she would be born.
Stella said she had felt no movement of Amanda for two weeks before she was born.
"We knew she was a girl, we already had named her," Stella said.
At 1 year old, Amanda weighed 1 pound, 6 ounces.
"We never gave up on Amanda," said Larry.
Amanda's sister, Erin, also was born premature 10 weeks early Nov. 16, 1986, but was due Dec. 13, 1986. The sisters were born 17 months apart.
Erin weighed 5 pounds and was born at Parkview Hospital.
Stella herself was not born prematurely. She weighed 9 pounds, 8 ounces.
"I feel that Erin's birth prepared me for Amanda's," Stella said. "We knew Amanda would come home. Everything is God's timing, not ours."
Amanda stayed at different hospitals for two years, 10 months and 15 days before coming home. She stayed at Parkview, Riley's Children's Hospital, and Lifeline, a nursing home in Indianapolis for critically-ill children, and Vernon Manor Children's Home, a nursing home for children in Wabash for a year.
Amanda was 2 years, 10 months and 15 days old and weighed 12 pounds when she came home.
A nurse cared for Amanda 24 hours a day after she returned home until she was 4 years old.
Amanda was on a breathing machine to help her breathe more easily while sleeping.
"I wanted so hard to believe that God had a plan for Amanda, and I knew he did in my heart," Stella said.
Amanda does not drive because of seizures, and doesn't work or attend school and has some development delays.
She said if she could do anything she would like to get into go-cart racing. She enjoys making dream catchers, reading books, and listening to music.
"I'm grateful for every single day I have with my children," Stella said.
