World’s most premature baby, given 0% chance of survival, just celebrated his first birthday

Jun 29, 2021 by Jill

By Emily Mangiaracina, LifeSite:

A baby boy who was said to have 0 percent odds of surviving after being born four months prematurely just celebrated his first birthday this month.

Richard Scott William Hutchinson is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most premature baby to survive to date. He was born weighing only 11.9 ounces, so tiny that he fit in the palm of a hand, CNN reported.

He was born on June 5, 2020, after just 21 weeks and two days in his mother’s womb.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Richard’s parents were not allowed to stay overnight with their baby boy at the hospital, so they traveled an hour every day for six months to the Minneapolis hospital to be with him.

“We made sure we were there to give him support,” his father, Rick, told Guinness Book of World Records. “I think that helped him get through this because he knew he could count on us.”

Dr. Stacy Kern, Richard’s neonatologist at Children’s Minnesota, likewise thinks the presence of Richard’s parents was vital in helping their baby boy to thrive.

“We know that babies that are talked to and held do better and have better outcomes,” she said. “For them to be there, always holding him and talking to him, it absolutely played a huge role.”

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