Mary Barthell, 28, gave birth to her baby girl, Loyal Milani, at just 23 weeks on Dec. 30, 2024

For one Georgia-based mom, bringing her daughter home after a long stay in the NICU was the “best gift ever.”

When Mary Barthell, 28, first found out she was expecting her fourth baby last year, she was “very scared, emotional and depressed,” she tells PEOPLE. She had just welcomed her son Asher, now 2, a year earlier; that, coupled with typical pregnancy symptoms, such as not being able to eat and sleep as much, only intensified her emotions ahead of her baby girl’s arrival.

During the first and the majority of her second trimester, Barthell’s pregnancy was normal. She was scheduled to give birth to her little girl on April 28, 2025. However, 23 weeks into her pregnancy, things took a shocking turn.

Barthell explains to PEOPLE that she went to Phoebe Sumter Medical Center after her water unexpectedly broke at home. From there, she was transferred to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, where she started “bleeding uncontrollably and had to be rushed for emergency C-section.”

Her baby girl, Loyal Milani, entered the world prematurely on Dec. 30, 2024, at 1:22 a.m., weighing only 1 lb. and 4 oz. — a little heavier than a 16-oz. bottle of water.

Barthell tells PEOPLE that doctors at the hospital told her that she gave birth early because she didn’t have any fluid in her amniotic sac.

After Loyal Milani’s birth, Barthell’s long journey to bringing her baby home began. The newborn stayed in the NICU for 146 days, undergoing multiple procedures, like laser eye and a g-button surgery, to help her become strong enough. Barthell describes the NICU stay as “devastating,” making her question at times if she was a “bad mother.”

“The NICU stay was devastating, especially [since I have] other kids,” says Barthell, who’s also a mother to Sa’Niyah, 10, Kamiliah, 4, and Asher. “A lot of stays, travels and long nights. I actually felt like a bad mother at times because I couldn’t be in two places at once.”

“Even though I had a total of four kids and they all [needed] me at the time, one needed me the most.” she says. “So many thoughts [were] racing through your mind. [I was] wondering if the baby is going to be okay, [if I] am okay, [if] my other kids [were] okay. It was a lot and still is, actually.”

Despite all of the little one’s complications during her NICU stay, which included chronic lung disease, pneumonia, and rhinovirus, she kept getting better. Loyal Milani was released from the NICU on June 15, three days before Barthell’s birthday,

“[It was the] best gift ever,” she tells PEOPLE.

While her daughter has been going through a lot, the doting mom says it’s been “joyful to see her grow and overcome most of what they thought she wouldn’t.”

“[She’s a] tough little cookie, but just her being home means the world,” says the mom of four.

Today, at 11 months, Loyal Milani is still on oxygen and a feeding tube. While she’s made a lot of progress, there is still more she has to overcome.

“We was hoping she would’ve been off by her 1st birthday, but it’s okay long as she’s getting the things she needs to get better,” Barthell tells PEOPLE. “She’s currently 12 pounds, and we will be doing speech and any other therapy she may need.”

“It’s a lot of driving and stays, [but] just to be heard is worth more than anything.”

Barthell started a GoFundMe to help cover some of her daughter’s medical expenses, writing in the description that she will “appreciate any and everything.”