Grandma's thanks for miracle George

9:17am Friday 4th April 2008

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A MIRACLE baby who was born three months early and weighed less than a bag of sugar has finally come home from hospital for the first time.

Little George Ralli, grandson of Beryl Orchard, of Church Acre in Bradford on Avon, spent four months receiving lifesaving treatment in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Bath's Royal United Hospital.

He was due to be born on March 1 but arrived suddenly in the middle of the night in November last year when mum Alice, a staff nurse at the RUH, was just 25 weeks pregnant.

He weighed 600 grams (1lb 8oz) and spent the next four months in the NICU unit battling to gain strength.

But now, at 4lbs 7oz, baby George has come home for the first time, albeit with an oxygen supply on standby in his parents' house near Bath.

As a thank you to the staff at NICU, Beryl organised a barn dance in February that raised £600. Mrs Orchard, a midwife at Trowbridge hospital, said: "We just wanted to say thank you to the staff at NICU because you don't realise the amazing work they do until you are there.

"George truly is a miracle baby and we wanted to thank the nurses at NICU for their wonderful, dedicated care."

The dance was on February 1 and Alice's father's band, Wild Goose Band, provided music for the evening.

An appeal to raise £4.5million to build a new extension for the NICU unit has been launched.