When Meloni was pregnant with her third child, Brianna, she suspected she might go into labor a little early. After all, her two older children were born four weeks and three weeks before their due dates. But Brianna just couldn’t wait that long.

Well before her due date, Meloni noticed that things were changing. She felt some discomfort, and she was leaking amniotic fluid - but she didn’t suspect that she was going into labor. Thankfully, her husband convinced her to call her doctor. “We had no idea that she would come so early,” Meloni remembers. “In fact, if I hadn’t listened to my husband, she would have been born at home, and we probably wouldn’t have had such a happy ending.”

That evening Meloni was quickly admitted to St.Vincent Women’s Hospital.  On April 2, 2007 at only 28 weeks’ gestation, Little Brianna was born by emergency caesarean section. Naturally, Meloni was worried, but the staff reassured her. “The doctor told me that if you’re going to have a baby early, there’s no better place to be.”

Initial estimates suggested that Brianna would be in the NICU for 10 to 12 weeks. But once again, she was ahead of schedule. In only six weeks, she had learned to eat and breathe unassisted. A small hole in her heart had healed, as well.

Having a baby at only 28 weeks’ gestation can be scary, but Meloni credits the staff at St.Vincent Women’s Hospital for making her stay a good one. “They took such good care of her,” she says. “They were very attentive the whole time I was there, and not just for Brianna’s needs, but my needs as well. They truly loved her, and they were in tears to see her go.”

Today Brianna is a bright-eyed baby who loves experiencing the world around her and getting kisses from her big brother and sister. At just a few months of age, she’s already a great big tiny success story.