Baby born 11 weeks early at height of COVID-19 pandemic heads home

Leah Torres was born at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic under the most challenging of circumstances.

News 12 Staff

May 27, 2020, 6:33 PM

Updated 1,728 days ago

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It was a celebration of life at NYU Winthrop Hospital on Wednesday.
Leah Torres was born at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic under the most challenging of circumstances. Her mother, Adriana Torres, from Hempstead, was brought into the emergency room early last month critically ill with COVID-19.
She was immediately intubated and put into a medically-induced coma. Doctors delivered the 29-week baby by C-section two days later. Adriana Torres did not even know she had the baby until two days later when doctors brought her out of the coma. It was her 41st birthday.
Leah weighed just under 3 pounds. Torres recovered and went home about a month ago. Wednesday was finally Leah's turn.
Leah has almost doubled her weight and doctors say she's doing great. She has two older sisters waiting to spoil her and a mom who says when the baby is older, she'll share the incredible story of how she was born.
Flanked by NICU doctors and nurses, Torres told News 12 through an interpreter how incredibly overjoyed she is.
"I feel very happy and fortunate because we went through a lot of things, but God willing and with the help of the doctors were able to go home today."
Leah's name was chosen by her older sister Michelle.
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