Premature baby born at 25 weeks ready to taste first Christmas dinner

A premature baby born in Ireland is getting an extra special gift this Christmas: the chance to have his first Christmas dinner.

Iarla Ace was born at 25 weeks, weighing just 1lb, 10oz. After a 127-day stint in the hospital, he was discharged but still relied on a feeding tube for his nutrition.

“He was very, very poorly whenever he was born,” said Iarla’s mother, Lindsay. “He wasn’t responding, and he had to be put on a ventilator. He was very tiny and at the start he had a lot of difficulties with his breathing and his blood pressure and other things. And it was really one thing after another to be honest with you. At the very, very start it was very precarious – we really didn’t think he was going to survive the first couple of days.”

But Iarla pulled through and overcame many serious health challenges despite the odds stacked against him due to his prematurity. His father, Matthew, said it was a relief when Iarla was finally able to come home.

READ: Christmas party celebrates the lives of premature babies

“The last four weeks leading up to when you thought he was coming home, time really slowed down rather than got faster,” he explained. “But it was incredible,”

Now 14 months old, Iarla’s latest milestone — the removal of his feeding tube — is something his whole family is excited about.

“I just cried and cried, I was just so happy, just so proud of him,” Lindsay said. “It was a very long process to get to that stage and now he really is thriving, he’s meeting all his developmental milestones for his corrected age. He is really enjoying eating and drinking and he’s a very content and happy little man.”

Lindsay noted that this is the first Christmas the family is all together because Iarla was still in the NICU last year.

“It’s going to be amazing just for us all to be together at home this year for Christmas, and just eat dinner and visit family and enjoy just the four of us being together without having to go anywhere near a hospital.”

Tell President Trump, RFK, Jr., Elon, and Vivek:

Stop killing America’s future. Defund Planned Parenthood NOW!