A newborn has been nicknamed ‘baby hulk’ after a rare condition caused her arms and chest to become ultra swole.
Arɱaпi Milby, from Campbellsville, Kentucky, has a severe form of lymphangioma, a condition that causes benign tumors to grow in the lymphatic vessels, tube-like structures that carry fluid around the body.
The swelling has caused her upper torso and arms to become disproportionately bulky compared to the rest of her body.
Arɱaпi’s mother Chelsey, 33, gave her daughter the affectionate nickname ‘mini Hulk’ when she was born because she looked ‘like a mini bodybuilder’.
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Arɱaпi Milby, from Campbellsville, Kentucky, was born with a condition that gave her swollen arms and legs. Her mother Chelsey has nicknamed her ‘mini Hulk’
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Baby Arɱaпi, pictured, spent the first three months of her life in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the hospital. She is pictured above shortly after being born with her mother
Now that some fluid has been drained from her arms, however, her mother has switched to calling her ‘squishy’.
‘Now she’s squishy,’ Ms Milby said, ‘I just call her my little squishy baby. She’s doing very well.’
Her daughter’s condition, which can be caused by genetics or hormone problems, was diagnosed at week 17 of pregnancy.
Arɱaпi weighed 12lbs when she was born and made her mother look so large when she was pregnant that strangers would ask if she was having triplets.
Doctors gave Arɱaпi a ‘zero percent’ chance of survival, Ms Milby said, but the infant cried as soon as she was born via C-section at 33 weeks and has been fighting ever since.
Ms Milby, who has two other children, said she was left in tears after the news— saying she didn’t understand why her baby had the condition.
Lymphangioma is when fluid-filled bumps, or cysts, form under the skin because the lymph vessels overgrow and stop draining fluid from the body.
The condition is rare, affecting about one in 4,000 children, and is normally diagnosed at birth or within the first few years of childhood.
Swelling is common in the head and neck area — because these areas have a relatively high concentration of lymph vessels compared to other parts of the body.
But they can also appear in other places like the chest and arms. Of those diagnosed with the condition in the womb, doctors say only 22 percent survive.
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Doctors said Arɱaпi wouldn’t make it, but she was born via C-section at 33 weeks and started crying immediately. She has now received treatment to drain some of the fluid from her body
In surgery, doctors will cut out the abnormal lymphatic tissue in order to boost fluid drainage from the body and to stop the liquid from collecting.
Patients may also receive a procedure called Sclerotherapy — where a special medication is injected into the body that causes irritation and scarring to the abnormal lymphatic tissue, leading it to shrink and collapse.
Ms Milby said: ‘I had never, ever, heard of the diagnosis before and honestly, I had looked into it, and I didn’t really like the results with some of the pictures.
‘When I found out, to be honest, I was devastated, I was heartbroken. I didn’t understand what happened, what went wrong, because I had two other healthy babies, and I cried every day. Every day, I asked God why.’
But describing her daughter now, she said: ‘She has a lot of extra skin. It’ll all go away, and she’ll be the normal-looking baby. She’ll just have significant scarring from the surgeries and everything.
‘She got lucky. She’s not deformed or anything like that. I’ve actually seen some cases where they have and God bless them kids, they’re fighters.
‘She’s happy. She hardly ever cries unless she wants to be held. We’re trying to do everything for this baby and give her the best life possible.
‘She finally rolled over and she’s trying to say “momma”, I’m pretty sure, she’s getting really close.
‘She’s doing wonderful. She literally is my miracle baby, and we just love her so much.’
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The baby has a condition called lymphangioma, which has caused her arms and chest to swell because of a build-up of fluid. This is caused by an overgrowth of the lymph vessels, responsible for draining fluid, causing them not to drain fluid properly
