Chen takes little En'en from a nurse and looks at him misty-eyed.

"En'en, dad and mom are here to take you home," said Chen, the mom. "Don't worry."

It was the first time in more than 130 days that Chen held the baby in her arms. She appeared to be a little nervous.

"Hush, you will wake him up," said her husband, Xie.

En'en is the youngest premature baby ever recorded in southwest China's Sichuan Province. On Friday, he was discharged safe and sound from West China Second University Hospital. The hospital's neonatology division held a farewell party for the family.

En'en's first journey in the world was accompanied by fear, anxiety and tears.

On the night of November 17, 2019, the hospital received an emergency call to save a premature baby born at 22 weeks and six days.

The hospital immediately sent doctors to fetch the baby. Within just eight hours of birth, En'en was transferred into the hospital's intensive care unit for newborns.

"Any baby born between 28 weeks and 37 weeks are called premature babies, and those born within 28 weeks are extreme cases," said Tang Jun, with the hospital. "En'en was the youngest ever premature baby in Sichuan."

When En'en was born, he weighed just 550 grams, about "the size of an adult's palm," Tang said.

"We had never received and treated such little babies before," Tang said. "We tried everything possible."

At that time, the baby's internal organs were not well developed, and could not maintain his own temperature. This meant the hospital needed "comprehensive temperature management" for him.

"The baby's skin was extremely delicate and could break easily," Tang said. "We needed to act with great care when applying adhesive plasters and giving him injections."

The medical staff used hydrocolloid dressings during the process to avoid breaking the baby's skin, according to Tang.

Meanwhile, En'en's immature lungs also posed a challenge.

"Normally, a baby develops its lungs around the 34th week in the mother's body, but En'en's lungs were not developed well, and could not breathe on his own," Tang said.

The hospital sent a respiratory therapist to help En'en breathe. Air tubes were used for 42 days.

The hospital also conquered challenges in nutrition and infection prevention in more than four months, allowing the baby to grow from merely 550 g to 3.84 kg. On Friday, En'en's condition was stable and able to be discharged.

"When he was born, he was so tiny and my heart broke," said Chen. "I cried for a whole night that day."

Now, she feels relieved after seeing her healthy baby.

"We named him 'En'en' because it means gratitude in Chinese," Chen's husband said. "We want him to remember to be grateful when he grows up."