CLEVELAND -- It's a medical fact that the very first time a fetus really has any chance to live outside of a woman's body is 24 weeks, which is four months premature.

If the child were to survive, he or she would be at high risk for extremely serious long-term problems, but one local infant defied those odds, reported NewsChannel5's Alicia Booth.

Karen Harris was happy, healthy and six months pregnant the day she went to Parmatown Mall to pick up some maternity clothes.

But something went terribly wrong and she started bleeding.

"I thought,'What is this? Am I going to miscarry?'" Harris said.

Fortunately, Parma Hospital was right across the street and they called a Life Flight helicopter to rush Harris to MetroHealth Medical Center.

That's were neonatal nurse practitioner Kristin Smith-Sullivan and her team were waiting.

Baby Carleigh was born within minutes of their arrival, with her dad, Mike, watching the whole thing.

"It was scary from the standpoint of having no control over the situation and all you could do was pray," said Mike Harris.

Carleigh came into the world weighing just a little over a pound. Things did not look good.

"Well, in the very beginning, it was real touch and go because she was really depressed, but after about 10 minutes, she was coming around and looking much better," said Smith-Sullivan.

"She looked like a little newborn bird without the feathers, just really red," said Mike Harris.

Carleigh had a heart murmur that needed to be fixed and she couldn't breathe or eat on her own.

But after 148 days of around-the-clock care at Metro's neonatal intensive care unit, Carleigh was healthy enough to go home.

"They told us don't go online and read everything that could happen. Because there's so much that could happen. We just have to wait and see what's going to happen with her," said Karen Harris.

At 2 years old, Carleigh is still a little small, but doctors tell the Harrises that she'll catch up.

In the meantime, the nurses at Metro love getting pictures of the tiny baby who's growing up.

"Oh, it's a wonderful feeling. That's why we do this job, the whole team here does it because we know those babies go home and they're functioning and happy little children," said Smith-Sullivan.

"Wow, we just think she's a miracle and I just thank God everyday that she's just doing so well. She's a little firecracker," said Mike Harris.

Carleigh's parents said her name means "little strong woman."

Doctors at Metro said that Carleigh will probably catch up developmentally by the time she goes to kindergarten.

Doctors also don't have an explanation for why Carleigh was so premature, because the pregnancy was healthy and normal.