When Annalise Layng was born at twenty-three-and-a-half weeks, she was no bigger than her own baby bottle - 560g. Now 120 days after her birth, the "miracle baby" is weighing in at 2,94kg and is ready to be discharged from the Park Lane Clinic.
"We did not have any unrealistic expectations. We were told from the beginning that she might not be viable, so we just took it hour by hour," said Annalise's father, Robert.
Soon hours became days, and days months, and little Annalise thrived.
"I think she was very determined (to survive)," her doting mother Michaele said. But it has not been an easy road for the young family.
United States Peace Corp employees, Robert and Michaele were working in Zambia when Michaele's water broke on June 27.
"We rushed to our doctor in Zambia who immediately realised that he would not be able to handle the situation.
"Within five hours we were on a chartered plane to South Africa," Robert said.
By 2am the following morning, Michaele was being treated at Park Lane Clinic.
"The doctor was quite straightforward with us. He said he would do what he could to try and prevent the birth," Robert said.
But the doctor could only prevent delivery for two days.
"Michaele started having contractions and the baby was already in position so they had to deliver," Robert said.
At birth, Annalise, the couple's first child, had under-developed lungs and had to be ventilated for seven weeks.
But that wasn't the end of her battle to survive.
An obstruction to her bowel meant she had to undergo an operation where a piece of her intestine was removed, she battled two respiratory infections and had 13 blood transfusions. Luckily, she avoided brain bleeds and heart problems, making her prognosis brighter.
"This place (Park Lane) has become an extension of our family. Everyone has been amazing and supportive. Annalise has sailed through this because of the superb staff," Michaele said.
"This has been a precarious part of the journey but I am looking forward to motherhood and enjoying our baby," she said.
"If you believe in miracles, then her survival is a miracle," Robert said. "Annalise is a success story for so many people but we get to take her home."
Annalise might not be the smallest baby born at the hospital - the smallest being 430g - but she is "certainly the only baby to have been delivered and admitted to the neonatal ICU at Park Lane at twenty-three-and-a-half weeks", said unit manager Wendy Stenner.