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This baby girl is believed to be the third smallest infant born in the world and the second in the United States — she can fit in the palm of a hand!

Weighing just 9 and a half ounces when she was born, little Melinda Star Guido is one of the smallest babies in the world! Most infants her size don’t even survive, but she’s already set to go home by New Year’s, according to The Today Show.

Melinda was born at 24 weeks premature, and she spent her early months in a neonatal intensive care unit in California. Her 22-year-old mother stayed at the hospital every chance she could get, often staying overnight.

“The first few weeks, it was touch and go,” said Dr. Rangasamy Ramanathan, who oversees premature infants at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. “None of us thought the baby was going to make it.”

Only ten babies weighing less than a pound were born last year and survived, according to The Today Show. Melinda’s part of a small club, only three other survivors in the world are known in Berkeley, Seoul, South Korea and Iowa City, Iowa. All are bigger than Melinda.

Amazing! Can you believe how tiny she is, HollyMoms?

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