An adorable tot who was born with a condition that caused her to look like a mini bodybuilder has been dubbed “Baby Hulk” by her mum.
Little Armani Milby, now nine months old, had to be delivered at 33 weeks via an emergency C-section after doctors found she was suffering from a severe condition that caused benign growths on her chest and arms. The extremely rare congenital condition is a form of lymphangioma which causes growths in the lymph vessels.
The little tot was left looking like a tiny bodybuilder causing mum Chelsey to give her the affectionate nickname “Mini Hulk”. Armani weighed three times more than the average-sized baby when she was born at 33 weeks - clocking in at a whopping 12lbs as opposed to the average of three to five lbs.
Chelsey, 33, said that people thought that she was expecting triplets because of the size of her bump and that she cried daily as she struggled to move when she reached 200lbs whilst pregnant. An ultrasound at the 17-week mark showed that Armani had the condition leaving doctors concerned over suspected fluid around her heart.
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Lymphangioma it can cause serious health problems depending on the area of the body affected interfering with things like breathing or vision. But Chelsey always held hope for her unborn child and luckily for Armani, it’s thought her condition is treatable with surgery.
Chelsey said: “I had never, ever, heard of the diagnosis before and honestly, I had looked into it, and I didn’t really like the results with some of the pictures. When I found out, to be honest, I was devastated, I was heartbroken. I didn’t understand what happened, what went wrong, because I had two other healthy babies, and I cried every day. Every day, I asked God why. We never considered an abortion even though it was mentioned to us almost immediately after it was discovered there were some major concerns with our unborn baby, but we just wanted to know how we could help her when she was born.
“They literally gave her a 0% chance. They said she wouldn’t make it and that she probably wouldn’t be crying when she came out. After 33 weeks, Chelsey had a caesarean section to deliver Armani, who was immediately crying and soon after, she was able to prove doctors wrong. However, the entire pregnancy was incredibly difficult for Chelsey, who felt pain every day that she carried her child.
She said: “My body was shutting down. Something was telling me it was time to get her out. I was almost 200 pounds, and my health was getting really bad. I suffered every day; I could never sleep. I was extremely sick. That’s why I had them take her at 33 weeks because my body was shutting down and it was getting harder every day to live life and actually breathe because I was so uncomfortable as I had to keep getting fluid drained out of my stomach.
“To everyone's surprise, she came out crying and everybody in the room was emotional. No one knew what was going to happen. It’s a very magical story. For dad, Blake, who was not allowed in the delivery room, the process was tough, he said: “I remember sitting outside in the hallway, they took me back there for the delivery and while they’re in there giving her an epidural, I was out there pacing the hall, just praying.”
The operation was far from easy for Chelsey, who suffered a panic attack soon after they started, but it was all worth it when she saw her baby's face. She said: “They had to give me something to calm me down because I was having a panic attack. I was screaming and crying. I was just a wreck, it was horrible. In the back of our minds, we were both wondering what was going to happen. However, she just shocked us all and proved everyone wrong.
“When I actually saw her, I cried even more because I had never seen anything like that but I didn’t care what she looked like, I loved her anyway. I had never seen anyone look like that before so I was just shocked to be honest, but grateful at the same time.”After being born, Armani and her family were moved over 100 miles away to Cincinnati for three months in a specialist hospital where she began to make her recovery against the odds.
She said: “I battled postpartum depression really bad, and I had to push that away to try to be the strongest person I could be for her and for my other two kids. “It's been a rollercoaster ride. It really has been a rollercoaster ride and every day, I struggle a little bit.” Now, Armani has been undergoing constant treatment to remove excess fluid from her body, however, with copious amounts of excess skin, she still currently weighs 21 lbs and wears clothes that are made for babies who are twice her age.
Armani is scheduled for surgery later this year which will help her body shrink down to the correct size and over the coming years after doctors extract extra lymphatic vessels from her body, she would also undergo surgery to remove the extra skin. Chelsey, from Campbellsville, Kentucky, US, is delighted with Armani’s progress and she believes that her child will live a normal life - pain free. She said: “Now she’s squishy, I just call her my little squishy baby. She’s doing very well. She has a lot of extra skin. It'll all go away, and she'll be the normal-looking baby. She'll just have significant scarring from the surgeries and everything.
“She got lucky. She’s not deformed or anything like that. I've actually seen some cases where they have and God bless them kids, they're fighters. She’s happy. She hardly ever cries unless she wants to be held. We’re trying to do everything for this baby and give her the best life possible. “She finally rolled over and she’s trying to say ‘momma’, I’m pretty sure, she’s getting really close. She’s doing wonderful. She literally is my miracle baby, and we just love her so much.”