Premature Baby Born the Size of a Soda Can Beats the Odds, Celebrates First Birthday
A baby born the size of a coke can is now a thriving one-year-old after physical contact with his parents appeared to have spurred his recovery, according to his doctor.
Baby Jo arrived at just 23 weeks and 4 days gestation after her mother Carolina was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. Carolina had to undergo an emergency cesarean section and Jo was born weighing just 12 ounces (340g) and measuring just 10 and a half inches (27cm) long.
Due to his prematurity, Jo has underdeveloped lungs and requires the use of oxygen. His parents were told that his chances of survival were low.
His father, Michael, remembered “Dr Everette was incredibly sweet and compassionate, but she kind of spelled it out for us that, you see, these little babies so early don’t usually make it. We often can’t intubate them. There is, you know, nothing we can do”.
Dr Rachel Everette of St Francis Children’s Hospital said “He will not live. He is very small and he is on the verge of survival”.
However, baby Jo fought for life
Unexpectedly, Dr. Everette intubates the baby. “That shouldn’t happen”, the doctor said. “He shouldn’t have a mouth big enough for me to intubate him, because he’s so small”.
Jo’s parents were finally allowed to hold their baby when he was nine days old, when doctors thought he was going to die.
Dr. Everett said “Jo was almost energized when his mother and father held him. We just watch him sit down [oxygen saturation levels] go up, slowly but up”.
After 142 days in the neonatal intensive care unit, Jo was home with her family. He was the smallest baby to survive at St Francis Children’s Hospital, and in Smallest Baby Registry for the world’s smallest living baby.
Jo is now a year and a half old and is being taken off oxygen at home.
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Very premature babies are surviving at a higher rate than ever before
At 23 weeks gestation, Jo was born under the current UK abortion limit of 24 weeks. Research published in November 2023 by academics at the University of Leicester and Imperial College London found a total 261 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeksbefore the abortion limit, who survived hospital discharge in 2020 and 2021. This compared to the Govt. abortion statisticsshowing that in 2021 alone, 755 “ground C” abortions were performed when the baby was at 22 or 23 weeks’ gestation (ground C is the legal ground on which most abortions are permitted and there are currently 24 week. time limit for abortions performed under this law).
Right To Life UK Spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said, “Baby Jo’s story is amazing and shows just how important parental love and expert medical support are in the development of premature babies.”
“Sadly, many babies receive neither, and are aborted at the same age as Jo when she was born. Stories like this should prove to the British public and the Government that a revision of the abortion law is long overdue, and that the current 24 week limit must be lowered to show these very premature babies live and thrive with the right support”.
LifeNews Note: Republished with permission from Right to Life UK.
