At the age of four months, a baby is born and was taken aback when his father placed him in his lap. The boy who became the world’s most premature baby to survive is commemorating his first Thanksgiving at home. Guinness World Records is named a boy who weighed to only 15oz at birth as the world’s most premature infant to survive.
Curtis Means, of Alabama, was born on July 5, 2020, when his mother, Michelle Butler, went into labor at 21 weeks and gave birth to twins. We’ll find out her entire story at the end of the Article.
Curtis’s sister Keisha died one day after birth, but Curtis survived while receiving care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Women’s and Infant Centers Regional NICU Unit. Butler recalled praying that one of her twin newborns would survive the premature birth mother told Good Morning America that her prayers had been answered. She gave God her little girl, and he let her continue to be Curtis’s mother.
Curtis, who was born 132 days premature, was so fragile at birth that Butler said she had to wait four weeks to hold her son. Curtis’s sister Keisha died one day after birth, and even though Curtis survived while receiving care in the regional NICU unit at the hospital, he could fit in the palm of her hand at the time.
Curtis survived while being treated in the regional neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Women’s and Infant Center, according to Good Morning America. His sister Keisha, on the other hand, died one day later due to complications, as she was much less developed. Butler told the network that she recalls praying that at least one of her twin newborns would survive the premature birth. Dr. Brian Sims, professor of Pediatrics at the U A division of neonatology and the attending physician on call when Butler arrived, said that he showed a lot of response to what they were actually doing.
It was definitely surprising that a baby his age could be as strong or as tough as he was. Sims explained that he and his colleagues needed to keep a close eye on Curtis’s reactions to treatments. And because there is no medical precedent for a baby born at this age, the odds are that the baby will not survive. Even during months he was in the hospital, nurses coordinated video calls so that she could see Curtis on days she couldn’t visit in person. She said there were ups and downs, good and bad days.
He did really well for a couple of weeks, then get sick and take a five step backward. Despite having a one in a million chance of surviving at birth, Curtis defied the odds and was declared fit to return home on April 6, 2021. After spending 275 days in the NICU, Butler and Curtis returned to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Women and Infant Center six months later,
where they were greeted by doctors and nurses who surprised them by presenting them with a Guinness World Record certificate honoring Curtis’s achievement. People talk about awards and such, but seeing a patient who had almost no chance of survival on paper look at his doctor and smile is one of the greatest rewards a doctor can have. According to Sims, Curtis did the majority of the work.
However, it was an honor to assist him. The strongwilled youngster is now 16 months old and weighs nearly £19. Sims revealed that while Curtis is still on oxygen and has a feeding tube, he’ll be leaned off of both in the future. The good news is that all of the things he has right now, strong babies can get off of them, which is very encouraging, said the doctor. And Besides, when they’re caring for a baby they’ve never had the chance to care for before.
A lot of this will be them watching him grow overtime. He’s a very active person. When asked about her son’s energy levels, Butler joked about the fact that he’s tired already and was very proud of him because she can tell the difference between where he came from and where he is now. Having this record is a blessing that he has attained, and she was grateful that the Guinness World Records accepted him. Premature births can be caused by a variety of elements, including a mother’s age and income, her health and her access to prenatal care.
Contraception availability may play a role. Women with pregnancies and rapid succession are also at risk of giving birth prematurely, according to Bruce Becker, a gynecologist and obstetrician who chairs the Public Health Advisory Council at the Climate Action Campaign in San Diego. According to a 2020 study that examined more than 32 million birds in the United States and discovered that pregnant women exposed to high temperatures or air pollution were more likely to have children who were
premature underweight or stillborn, it’s too early to conclude how large a role climate change may play. Preterm birds have been linked to other events caused at least in part by climate change, such as the increasing number of wildfires in the Western United States and the increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves. Becker predicts that things will worsen.
Premature birth rates are expected to continue to rise as a result of climate change. Butler’s cervix began to open up shortly before the birth, according to her. She had surgery to close the wound at UAB Hospital and was released on July 4. Butler said her sister was driving her home over extremely bumpy roads when she started having contractions. She claimed that she had little time to grieve after her daughter died because Chris was still fighting for his life.
Butler complained that she had to pull herself together and be strong for him. Doctors told her that with such an early birth, they’d have to take things day by day, even hour by hour. Butler went into early labor for unknown reasons. According to Sims. He claimed that she had access to neonatal care and saw a doctor on a regular basis.
Preterm or premature delivery refers to a delivery that occurs before the 37th week of pregnancy. Pre, turm or premature babies do not develop as expected in terms of height and weight as a baby born at full term does. Premature babies, on the other hand, are expected to catch up to their peers who were born full by age two because the mature sucking and swallowing pattern does not develop until the 34 weeks in utero. Babies born before this time may not be able to breastfeed effectively in terms of feeding. They have a separate algorithm for dealing with such babies.
Because babies can’t regulate their own temperature, they wrap them in sweaters and blankets after they’ve been born. Even in the hot summer months, they need time to adjust to their new surroundings. Preterm babies have a harder time keeping their body temperature stable. Kangaroo care is something they recommend. More information is accessible on the Internet, and Kymar is a big proponent of it.
A premature baby must learn how to do many things that come naturally to a full term baby. For example, premature babies often lack a sucking refunds, so they must try, fail, try again, fail again, try again, and finally succeed to get the nutrition they require. This early introduction to failure may help students develop resilience and the growth mindset that they strive to instill in them. As a result, they may be able to set themselves up for success and intelligence measures if they have the skill chosen to give. The fear that a parent will lose this precious child, or the need to fight for your child, or being told that your child may face difficulties as a result of personal feelings.
In this case, your loss of the ability to nurse them to full term may focus a parent’s attention on providing the baby with as much stimulation and attention as possible. When you have a full term baby, you may be less aware of how important your intervention is in stimulating their ability. It’s not that you don’t love them, it’s just that a premature birth scares most parents in a way that a full term birth rarely does. At one point, it was probably correct. For a long time, premature baby’s only option was to place them in an incubator and hope for the best.
This frequently resulted in brain damage, disabilities, and in some cases, death. A baby born with little or no sur factant will die if not given special care because his or her lungs will be unable to fill with air. Normally, the use of a ventilator will open up the lungs, but the high pressure will potentially harm the lungs. Surfactants can be induced in the fetus by steroids given to the mother. It’s also possible to combine artificial surfactants with water and administer the mixture directly to the newborn’s lungs.
Lung disease can be fatal to a baby but we’re doing much better now than we were in the past because modern technology has advanced so rapidly in recent years. Butler believes it’s impossible to predict the long term consequences of premature birth and she said she would encourage other parents of premature babies to be their child’s biggest advocates. After looking back on Curtis’s long journey since birth, parents in the United States are the strongest advocates for their children. So she advised that whatever feelings you have in your heart, you should follow them and continue to pray. As inspiring as the story is, it’s also caused Michelle Butler and her family a lot of heartache.
Curtis was only 24 hours ahead of the previous record holder. Richard Hutchinson, a Wisconsin baby, held the title of the world’s most premature baby for only a few months before it was recently stolen. Richard was born one month before Curtis at 21 weeks and two days old and weighed only 11.9oz. Although in this particular instance, doctors told his parents he had a 0% chance of survival, his mother, Beth told People magazine that they were both like that’s just not an option. During the summer and before baby Richard, she knew he had a chance.
The record had stood for 34 years and four months. According to BBC, the title was held for decades by a baby born in Ottawa, Canada who was also a boy. He was born at 21 weeks and five days, according to reports. Make sure your browser’s notification bells turned on hopefully you’ll keep it in mind at all times.
