Moment premature baby leaves intensive care after nearly 250 days to ‘guard of honour’ from staff

A family has shared the beautiful moment their daughter, who was born nearly four months early, was finally able to leave the NICU after a 247-day stay. River was due to be born on September 7, 2023, but on May 7 of that year, her mom Shelby Rutledge’s water broke unexpectedly at only 22 weeks and four days pregnant. At the time, doctors told Shelby that they were in a gray area – which later resulted in River being given the middle name Grae – as there was a chance she would not survive if she were born so early. After 16 days in hospital, Shelby gave birth to River, who at the time weighed just one pound and six ounces. Though River was born at 24 weeks, her lungs were only at the level of a 22-week-old's, as that was when her water broke. As a result, the family was told that they may need to expect River to remain in the NICU for up to a year, with Shelby documenting her daughter's progress on her social media account. After more than seven months in Oklahoma Children’s Hospital's NICU, the family was finally told that River was well enough to go home. On January 25, 2024, they made their way out of the NICU, where Shelby's mom recorded the staff's uplifting reaction as River made her way out of the hospital.