World's most premature baby, born in Minnesota, celebrates 1st birthday
The world's most premature baby, born in Minnesota, has reached his first birthday.
(FOX 9) - As baby Richard Hutchison attempts to talk, his parents beam with pride and joy because just a year ago they didn’t think his voice was a sound they would get to hear.
"When they [doctors] told me I was going into labor, they said the odds of him surviving were very, very slim" his mother Elizabeth Hutchinson, tells Fox 9.
Elizabeth’s due date was set for Oct. 13, 2020 but she had some complications that caused her to go into labor 4.5 months early.
Baby Richard was 131 days premature weighing only 11.9 ounces. Doctors told his parents that his chances of survival were 0 percent.
"He was the size of the hand," says Elizabeth. "I was really distraught because we had been trying for several years before that to get pregnant and had lost one right after we had gotten married. It was really hard for them to tell me that I would lose my son just barely making it to my halfway point of my pregnancy."
But these parents didn’t give up and neither did baby Richard.
He got stronger by the day and began embarking on a journey where he went from having no chance of surviving to celebrating his first birthday on June 5.
"I’m excited to have him home," his dad, Richard Hutchinson, adds. "A year ago, I wasn’t sure if we would even be able to bring him home. I had to prepare myself for the worst."
There are some challenges as their son requires oxygen to breath at night as well as a feeding tube to eat.
But baby Richard – who is now recognized as the world’s most premature baby to survive -- has proven that he can defy the odds.