{"id":257104,"date":"2021-11-11T16:39:08","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T22:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=257104"},"modified":"2021-11-11T16:38:43","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T22:38:43","slug":"premature-baby-history-youngest-preemie-ever-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-history-youngest-preemie-ever-survive\/","title":{"rendered":"Premature baby makes history as youngest preemie ever to survive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Curtis Zy-Keith Means, a\u00a0premature baby weighing less than a pound at birth, has just been named by the Guinness Book of World Records<\/a>\u00a0as\u00a0the most premature baby ever to survive.<\/p>\n

In July of 2020, Michelle “Chelly” Butler thought her pregnancy was going well and as expected. She was expecting twins, and doctors had no reason to think she wouldn’t go full term. But on July 4, she went into premature labor<\/a>, and was rushed into emergency surgery the next day. She delivered twins C’Asya and Curtis at UAB Hospital<\/a>\u00a0at 21 weeks, one day \u2014\u00a0beating the previous record holder, Richard Hutchinson<\/a>, by just one day<\/em>. Richard\u00a0was born on June 5, 2020, at 21 weeks and two days.<\/p>\n

But neonatologist Dr. Brian Sims explained the standard in cases this premature is typically not to give active care. “We typically advise for compassionate care in situations of such extremely preterm births,” he told KATV<\/a>. “This allows the parents to hold their babies and cherish what little time they may have together.”<\/p>\n

Yet Sims told Guinness<\/a> that Butler didn’t want to give up. “The numbers say that babies at this age will not survive,” he said. “Mom’s question to me was: ‘Can we give my babies a chance?'”<\/p>\n

C’asya sadly passed away after just one day. But Curtis held on. “He showed initially that he responded to oxygen, his heart rate went up, his numbers went up, ” Dr. Sims said. “He was giving us a lot of positive feedback that… he wanted to survive. I\u2019ve been doing this almost 20 years… but I\u2019ve never seen a baby this young be as strong as he was… There was something special about Curtis.”<\/p>\n