Juniper

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Born in the grey zone: Journalist parents explore medical frontier of micro-preemies

Juniper French weighed one pound four ounces — a little over half a kilogram —when she was born five years ago in a Florida hospital.

"Exactly the weight of a Gatorade bottle," Kelley French tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti. Her diaper was the size of a pack of gum, says French.

Juniper was born at 23 weeks and six days gestation, in what doctors call the grey zone — at the edge of viable life outside the womb, forcing her parents Kelley French and Thomas French to make a series of impossible decisions.  

When Kelley went into labour early, the doctors gave them the choice: it was up to them to decide whether to let Juniper live or die

Read the story and listen to the segment here