Baby girl born smaller than the size of a soda is finally on her way home after spending last six months in intensive care

• Alexis Clarke was born three and a half months early last April
• Weighing just 11 ounces and no bigger than a soda can, she was the smallest baby ever delivered at the University of San Diego Medical Center
• For the past six months Alexis has been growing in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit
• She is now 7 pounds, 3 ounces and doctors and just about ready to go home with her parents for the very first time

Alexis Clarke was smaller than a soda can when she was born last April - three and a half months early. 

Weighing just 11 ounces, she was the smallest baby ever delivered at the University of San Diego Medical Center. 

Over the past six months, Alexis has miraculously thrived despite her premature birth and is nearly healthy enough to finally go home to her parents just in time for Thanksgiving. Alexis is now 7 pounds, 3 ounces.

I'm a big kid now: Alexis Clarke was no larger than her mom's hand when she was born, but after six months in intensive care she has grown to 7 pounds, 3 ounces and is ready to go home

Tiny: When she was born, Alexis was about the size of a soda can. Her mom had to wait three months just for the opportunity to hold her daughter 

Something to be thankful for: Alexis' parents hope to have her home by Thanksgiving

'We have something definitely huge to be thankful for,' mother Laurie Clarke told NBC. 

The past six months have been a trying experience for Mrs Clarke, who wasn't even allowed to hold her daughter until three months after she was born.

'Honestly, it was a lot of "what did I do wrong?" Hearing that it wasn't anything that I did definitely helped,' she said. 
While babies born as early as Alexis survive 80 per cent of the time, the survival rate wasn't so high until recent years.

Not responsible: At first, Alexis' mother was wracked with guilt, believing she did something to cause her baby's premature birth - but doctors assured her that wasn't the case 

Good medicine: While 80 per cent of babies born as early as Alexis survive, that wasn't the case 20 years ago

Blessing: Alexis' early birth has taught her parents to be thankful for every day they have with their daughter

'Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have survived,' Alexis' doctor Krishelle Marc-Aurele said. 'I can�t believe it. I can�t believe she�s 10 times bigger than she was. I can�t believe she looks like a normal baby.'

Throughout her hospital stay, doctors warned Alexis parents that despite the odds, they should take their daughter as a 'day-by-day' situation. 

That's had a profound affect on mother Laurie who has learned not to waste any time spent with her miracle baby. 

'We count every day as such a blessing with her, and we know we are so lucky to have her. Every day, you just never know,' she said. 'I couldn't imaging losing someone as much as we do her.'  

Alexis' family are now fundraising to give back to the UCSD intensive care unit that nursed their daughter for the past sic months.