A “miracle baby” was born in Alabama with rare facial anomaly – he doesn’t have a nose.

Shortly before their baby boy was born, Brandi McGlathery and Troy Thompson talked about the physical qualities they hoped he would possess.

“I said I wanted him to have blond hair,” Brandi said. “And Troy said, ‘I hope he doesn’t get my nose.’”

At the time, it was just a joke between two parents anxiously awaiting their baby’s arrival. After he was born, though, it became the kind of memory that now makes them wince at its irony.

When Timothy Eli Thompson was born at South Baldwin Hospital on March 4, weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces, Dr. Craig Brown immediately placed him on Brandi’s chest.

As the doctor helped Troy cut the cord, Brandi looked at Eli for the first time and said, “‘Something’s wrong!’ And the doctor said, ‘No, he’s perfectly fine.’ Then I shouted, ‘He doesn’t have a nose!’”

According to Brandi, her baby Eli has an extremely rare condition known as complete congenital arhinia. It means, Eli does not have a nasal cavity or olfactory system, and cannot smell. He had a tracheotomy to help him breathe, and thus doesn’t cry, either.

There are thought to be just 37 babies in the world with this condition, and the odds against it are 197 million to one.

“We’re going to do our best to make sure he’s happy,” Brandi said. “The rest of him is so cute, sometimes you don’t realize he doesn’t have a nose.”

Meanwhile, Brandi has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Eli – who may eventually have surgery to build him a nose, and faces frequent doctor’s visits and hospital appointment.

However, Doctors may have to wait until after puberty, as his palate also didn’t form all the way, and his ‘brain is lower.’

“We think he’s perfect the way he is. Until the day he wants to have a nose, we don’t want to touch him. We have to take it day by day,” added Brandi.

Baby Eli Thompson is being treated at the NICU at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile,Alabama.