'Our baby was so small she wore Build-A-Bear clothes and spent 384 days in hospital'

A premature baby is finally home after more than 300 days in hospital - and was so tiny she only fit in Build-A-Bear clothes.

Now 21 months old, Kamerie Littlejohn has made leaps and bounds after weighing just 1lbs 5oz when she was born at 28 weeks. She was diagnosed with a rare disorder called 18p deletions - which causes problems relating to growth.

Her parents , 39-year-old Anitra and 37-year-old Demarcus spent more than a year in hospital with her before they could bring Kamerie home. While the little tot is still only 17lbs 5oz - smaller than her big sister Emerie's dolls - she has surpassed expectations and can crawl, roll and sit-up.

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Anitra, a stay-at-home-mum, from Knoxville, Tennessee, said: "We were buying Build-A-Bear clothes for Kamerie and doll clothes. Even now she is so small she doesn't fit a newborn shoe. She's still extremely small."

The couple were over the moon when they fell pregnant with Kamerie in April 2022. During the pregnancy, Kamerie was measuring a little small. However, Anitra didn't worry as her eldest, Emerie, five, had been the same.

But at 22 weeks, Kamerie still wasn't growing and Anitra was offered an amniocentesis - which tests a small sample of cells from amniotic fluid - to find out what was wrong. The mother decided against it as it can cause a higher risk of miscarriage. She continued to have weekly scans until she was placed on bedrest in Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, Knoxville, in August 2022.

"We were very emotional at that point. She was very slowly growing," Anitra said. The day after celebrating Emerie's birthday on August 23, 2022, doctors decided to step in. Anitra added: "The sonographer checked her growth and I could tell something was wrong. She said 'I'm going to get a doctor'. The doctor said 'it's go time'."

The baby had stopped growing, and as her heart rate was dropping, Anitra was taken for an emergency c-section to deliver her. Kamerie was born at around 10am on August 24, 2022 weighing 1lbs 5oz. Anitra said: "We didn't hear her cry. We got to see her an hour later when the nurse took a picture. She had a head full of dark hair. All I could see was her ribcage. She was so small."

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Soon after birth, their baby was diagnosed with chronic lung disease as her lungs were very underdeveloped. After two months she still wasn't growing and only weighed around 2lbs. In November 2022, Kamerie had chromosome testing to find out what was wrong, and the results revealed that she has 18p deletion - a rare genetic disorder. Anitra said: "They said she's missing half of chromosome 18."

Doctors didn't know much about the disorder but suggest she may never walk or talk. Anitra said: "It was a waiting game for her."

Amazingly, Kameire slowly gained weight and came home after 384 days in hospital in September 2023 - still weighing under 10lbs. She came home with a tracheostomy tube for her breathing and a ventilator.

Now 17lbs 5oz and only 69cm, Kamerie is much smaller than the average 24lbs 9oz for her age. She is still on a feeding tube and is in speech therapy but is sitting up and making progress with her mobility. Kamerie wears six to nine-month-old clothes and is smaller than her older sister's dolls, and while she isn't able to talk yet her parents are trying to teach her sign language so she can communicate. Anitra said: "She's like a little firecracker. She lets you know when she doesn't like something. She loves to dance."