(CNN) A baby born weighing less than a pound has beaten the odds and celebrated his first birthday, becoming the most premature baby to survive, according to Guinness World Records.
When Richard Scott William Hutchinson was born five months prematurely -- recognized by Guinness as the world's most premature baby -- his doctors prepared his parents for the worst.
Richard was born at Children's Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after his mother, Beth Hutchinson, suffered medical complications that caused her to go into labor.
Born 131 days prior to the expected due date and weighing just 11.9 ounces, Richard was so tiny his parents could hold him in a single palm of their hands, Guinness said.
Richard in the hospital shortly after his birth.
"When [his father] Rick and Beth received prenatal counseling on what to expect with a baby born so early, they were given a 0% chance of survival by our neonatology team," Dr. Stacy Kern, Richard's neonatologist at Children's Minnesota, told Guinness World Records.
jzt4now on June 20th, 2021 at 03:11 UTC »
I was born 2 1/2 months premature on a farm in Missouri and my mother had to deliver me herself because my father was at the pharmacy getting medicine to prevent premature labor. I was put in an incubator in a private room because I was “ contaminated “ having not been delivered in the hospital. While I was there for 3 months(until my parents insurance ran out) 12 babies in the nursery died of a Staphylococcus infection. My mother said she phoned everyday to see how I was and I weighed 5 pounds when they sent me home. Turns out I had a kidney infection they discovered at my sister’s “well baby appointment” and a significant hearing loss but everything else is normal. Since that was in 1955 in rural America, I consider myself very lucky. Prayers for all the littlest ones and their families.
MichiganMitch108 on June 20th, 2021 at 02:27 UTC »
Wow it’s amazing how far we’ve come, me and my twin sister were one of the first in-vitro babies in floria in 92 and were about 2 months premature at 2.5 and 2 pounds.
holyhamwallet on June 20th, 2021 at 00:19 UTC »
How many damn weeks?