SOUTHAVEN, Tenn. – A Tennessee baby who doctors weren't sure would survive the night turned 1 on Sunday.
Little Dylan Franklin continues to surpass expectations.
"A lot of people don't give babies his size a chance, especially how small he was and the fact that the doctors told us he's gonna die," Dylan's father, Dedrick Franklin, told WREG.
Delivered at 6 months, baby Dylan made his grand entrance weighing only about 13 ounces, no bigger than a mango.
"He was really small," Paige Franklin, Dylan's mom, said.
Dylan's parents had to make the difficult decision to tell doctors whether or not they should revive if he was born not breathing.
While Dylan's parents worried about the worst-case scenario, they underestimated just how hard the little boy was willing to fight for his own life.
"First thing I noticed, he was here (and) he started..." Dedrick Franklin said, mimicking the newborn's little cry.
"It was the smallest little cry. I didn't expect to hear him cry, but he cried," Paige Franklin added.
But even after Dylan survived the birth, his future still seemed dim.
At first he was having problems breathing on his own. Dylan remained in the hospital for days as he grew stronger and slowly started to thrive.
"'He may not live through the night," Paige Franklin remembered being told.
For the Franklins, they said it was faith that got them through.
"At times I felt like giving up," Dedrick Franklin said, "but I said as long as he's fighting I need to keep on fighting right along with him."
Now the Franklins want to make sure other parents know it's possible to beat the odds.
"There's hope because look at him, nobody gave him a chance at all."
Doctors told Dylan's parents that he could face some developmental delays, but he was just checked out last week and everything seems fine. He can see, he can hear, and he is functioning just fine. He's now 14 pounds.
