Baby Named 'Miracle' Goes Home After 4 Months in NICU as Mom Calls Her 'My Bundle of Joy'

Tiffany Murray's first daughter was born prematurely on April 2 weighing only 1 lb. and 6 ozs.

There’s a reason why a baby girl who spent four months at a New York City hospital's neonatal intensive care unit was named “‘Miracle.”

Tiffany Murray, 42, of Staten Island, was originally expecting her newborn to arrive on July 26, the same day as her aunt’s birthday.

Instead, Miracle was born prematurely on April 2 at just 23 weeks.

Murray says the unexpected birth came after she began experiencing contractions. “I went to my doctor's appointment and I found out I was one-and-a-half centimeters [dilated],” she tells PEOPLE on Friday, Sept. 6. “They admitted me right there.”

At the time of her birth at Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island, Miracle only weighed 1 lb. and 6 oz. “The hospital called her the '1 lb. baby’ because she was this tiny,” says Murray, a single mother with four sons whose ages range between 8 to 23.

Related: Baby Who Was Born Weighing 1 Lb. 'Graduates' from NICU After Months-Long Stay

“One of my sons, my second oldest, got to see her when she was in the NICU,” Murray adds. “He was just crying because she was so small at the time. She was only 2 days old when he went to go see her.

Miracle remained in intensive care for months, an experience that was stressful for her mom,

“I used to argue with the doctors,” Murray recalls. "‘I want my baby to come home. I want my baby to come home.’ Until one doctor came to me and said, 'I wouldn't let your baby go home if I knew she wasn’t well.' "

“Well, I got to sit down and thought, ‘Miracle's health is more important than me rushing her to come home,’ “ Murray continues. “So when time went by, I just had to suck it up and go visit her every day."

"They let me spend one night with her," Murray says. "That touched me a lot.”

At times, it was touch and go for Miracle during her stay in the NICU: She was hooked up to a CPAP, a machine that treats sleep apnea disorders, for three and a half months.

The newborn also had a heart murmur that required medications and underwent five blood transfusions, Murray says.

Related: Micro-Preemie Was Born Weighing Less Than 2 Lbs. Soon She’ll Be a Nurse at NICU That Saved Her Life

The mother credits her faith for getting through that difficult period.

“He [God] pushed me every morning,” she says. “Every morning he would wake me to get up at 9 o'clock and then leave the house by 9:30. And I get to the hospital exactly by 10:30. I make it there for her 11 o'clock feeding, sit there with her for two hours and then I go home and come back every morning, do the same routine.”

By the time Miracle was discharged on Aug. 21, she had put on a healthy weight of 8 lbs. and 5 ozs. To mark the occasion, the hospital staff held a kind of NICU graduation event, which caught Murray by surprise. 

Related: Baby Born Weighing Less Than 2 Lbs. Comes Home After Months-Long NICU Stay: 'Over the Moon,' Says Mom

“They were like, ‘Come on, mommy, you got to go home. You got to take Miracle and go home.’ So I'm like, ‘Why are you all rushing us out? She's been here for four months now you want to kick out?’ " Murray remembers. "They were like, ‘No, no. We got something to show you.’ “

“When I got in the hallway, it was just two lines of doctors and nurses,” she says. “As I'm walking, I was crying because it was touching.’”

In a statement, Richmond University Medical Center said of Miracle: "We are beyond thrilled to have Miracle join our family of NICU graduates. Our staff of physicians, nurses and medical professionals developed a deep bond with Miracle and her family over her time with us."

"Miracle, her mom and her siblings are forever part of our RUMC family," the hospital said, "and while we miss her, we are overjoyed that she is now home where she truly belongs."

Murray is between jobs but says that once she finds employment, she would like to buy gifts for the hospital staff who treated her first daughter.

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“I had other premature kids that didn't make it in the world,” she says. “They [the Richmond staff] really, really held tight to my baby if she was their own. I want to tell all the nurses and doctors at the hospital, 'Thank you all so much. Me and Miracle loves you all.' "

Miracle, now home, has no health issues though her mother keeps an eye on her and makes sure she keeps her health appointments.

“She's just my bundle of joy, my blessing that God gave to me,” Murray says. “She's a strong little girl.”

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