At 2-foot-9, mom may be smallest in the state to give birth

Newborn Krysten Elise Ray may not have to work very hard to grow taller than her mother, Christianne Ray, who stands at 2 feet 9 inches, and became perhaps the smallest mom in Washington when she gave birth this week.

Krysten was 14-inches long and weighed 4 pounds, 8 ounces, when she was born Tuesday via Caesarean section at the University of Washington Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Clare Hagerty said Friday.

The baby girl will spend several weeks in the neonatal intensive-care unit before she can go home, the hospital said. Christianne Ray, who was 35 weeks pregnant when the baby was born, was discharged Friday, Hagerty said.

Doctors were unsure if Ray, 19, of Puyallup, would be able to carry the baby at first, she told KOMO-TV before entering the hospital. Her family believes she is the shortest woman to give birth in Washington state.

" 'Cause they thought the baby was going to press on her lungs and she wasn't going to be able to breathe and neither was the baby or something," said her fiancé, Jeremy Bowden. "They didn't want that happening, so we've proved them wrong about a lot of the stuff."

Ray had been making weekly trips from Puyallup to Seattle to see specialists during her pregnancy. She weighed about 80 pounds before getting pregnant and added another 30 during the pregnancy.

Bowden, who is 6 foot 4, said he had to carry her up the stairs toward the end of her pregnancy.

The family has signed an exclusive arrangement with "Entertainment Tonight" and was unable to talk to any other media since Krysten's birth, Hagerty said.