Babies born prior to 22 weeks are born without their critical organs fully developed, including their heart, lungs and intestines, according to Dr. Maran Ramani, chief of the Division of Neonatology at USA Health and the doctor who oversaw Tripp’s care.

Ramani and Lisa Gore, a neonatal nurse practitioner at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital, told “GMA” that even as a hospital that specializes in neonatology, over the past decade, they have only cared for around 10 babies born before 22 weeks, and only half of those babies survived.

“Tripp’s case is unusual,” Gore said. “There still are not a lot of cases of babies less than 22 weeks surviving … Our OB team works really hard at trying to keep these moms pregnant as long as possible, because every single day matters.”

Once Tripp was born, he was immediately put on a ventilator and taken to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, according to Gore and Ramani.

In the NICU, Gavin and her husband, Herron Abney II, had to wait one month to even hold their son because he was so small and under so much medical intervention.