baby registry: Baby Born Weight Of Soda Can Goes Home

LOS ANGELES -- A baby born the weight of a soda can at a Los Angeles hospital went home Wednesday, tipping the scales at more than 4 pounds.

Baby Alexandra was the smallest surviving baby ever born at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center.

Alexandra, whose prognosis was said to be excellent, weighed only 12 ounces, or 360 grams -- the size of a soda can -- when she was born in January, said the hospital's Jill Dolan.

After a roughly four-month hospital stay, the girl plumped up to more than 4 pounds and was released Wednesday to her parents, Julie and Peter Freeman, of Chatsworth. The baby was the first for the couple, who said they wanted to have more children.


"But both of my (doctors) have threatened to take vacations and not treat me," the mother joked Wednesday.

Dr. Bahman Mehdizadeh, who has cared for Alexandra since her birth, said the baby's prognosis was excellent.

"She does not have any neurological deficits, and she passed her hearing test," he said. "I am hopeful she will be off all her medicines by the time she leaves and only be taking vitamins. I believe her outcome will be excellent."

Alexandra was delivered by Caesarean section after 26 weeks of gestation, Dolan said. Her mother was suffering from toxemia, a condition in which poisonous substances are spread throughout the body in the bloodstream.

According to a registry produced by University of Iowa's Department of Pediatrics, Alexandra is the smallest baby born in Los Angeles County and the third smallest born in California over the past six years.
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