HOUSTON—Learning she was pregnant was wonderful news for Laquetta Turner.

Several months into her pregnancy, Turner started feeling different.

“One day I was fine and then one minute later they’re telling me they had to take my baby out. She was only one pound 6 ounces,” said Turner.

She had Pre-Eclampsia also known as hypertension. 

“Mom will often times present with symptoms of headaches, high blood pressure,” said Dr. Nehal Parikh with Children’s Memorial Hermann.

Turner started seeing brown spots too.

Dr. Parikh said that the only cure for this condition is to deliver the baby.

She said that most babies, like Turner’s newborn named Katelyn, are delivered prematurely.  

“This poor munchkin has had all the complications of being pre-term including lung disease, feeding problems,” said Dr. Parikh.

What causes Pre-Eclampsia? Well, that's a question that has puzzled doctors for years, but now a team of local researchers thinks they have an answer.

“The immune system may be altered abnormally so then mom generates antibody against itself,” said Dr. Yang Xia with UT Houston.

Dr. Yang Xia and her team injected auto immune antibodies from pregnant moms into pregnant mice. Another set of injections into the mice blocked the condition of Pre-Eclampsia.

Katelyn’s family was excited about the findings.

“If this could be prevented that would be a wonderful thing because I really wouldn’t wish this on anyone. My little princess (Katelyn), she’s just a miracle baby,” said Katelyn’s grandmother Lillie Turner.

A miracle baby representing so many other Pre-Eclampsia born preemies fight to live.

Katelyn is nearly five-months-old and is tied to a ventilator and feeding tube at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. Doctors say she may live there for up to a year as her lungs develop.