(CBS) A mother and her newborn child left a hospital in Burbank, Calif. on Tuesday, a routine event made possible by a medical miracle, a newspaper reports.

The Los Angeles Times reports Amanda Thomas, a 26-year old dental receptionist, was in a coma when she gave birth 15 weeks early to a child weighing a pound and 10 ounces.

"This is a miracle baby, pure and simple," Dr. Paul Hinkes told the Times.

Thomas developed a case of viral pneumonia while pregnant and was hospitalized at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. The condition worsened however, causing fluid to build up around her heart and lungs and sending her kidneys into failure.

In an effort to stop her body's systems from failing, doctors used medicine to put Thomas into a coma, where machines would breathe for her and give her ailing lungs time to heal.

But she was still not healthy enough for a Caesarian birth, and doctors only expected one of the two — mother and baby — to survive.

On Feb. 26, she began having contractions. A team of doctors from another area hospital was brought in to oversee the birth. At least ten doctors and nurses were in the delivery room.

Weeks of recovery followed for the mother, while the child remained in the hospital until this week.

Doctors told the Times that modern medicine made it possible for both to survive.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, statistics collected in 1996 show that maternal mortality has not decreased since 1982. About 7.5 women die per every 100,000 live births. The CDC believes a target of 3.3 deaths per 100,000 live births is attainable.

About 6.9 babies died per 1,000 births in 2000, putting the U.S. in 28th place internationally for infant mortality.