His name is Curtis, he is now 16 months old, and he is officially the most premature baby in the world to have survived. The Guinness World Records certifies him: he was born at 21 weeks of gestation and 1 day, in Birmingham in Alabama (USA); it weighed only 420 grams. Baby Curtis reduced the previous record held by Wisconsin baby Richard, born just a month earlier to 21 weeks and 2 days, by 24 hours, the BBC reports online. And before Richard, the most premature baby ever had remained undefeated for 34 years (it was held by a baby born in Ottawa, Canada, at 21 weeks and 5 days).
A full-term pregnancy is usually 40 weeks, Curtis was born nearly 19 weeks earlier. Mom, Michelle, went into labor and was rushed to hospital on July 4, 2020 as American Independence Day fireworks filled the night sky. Michelle gave birth to twins, Curtis and C’Asya, at lunchtime the next day. C’Asya didn’t make it. And Curtis held on to that shred of survival, less than 1%. The ventilator was removed after 3 months and in April this year, after 275 days in hospital, he was discharged.
Curtis has 3 older brothers, still needs supplemental oxygen and a feeding tube, but doctors say he is in good health. In 20 years of business, “I have never seen a child as young as he is strong. Something special,” Brian Sims, a neonatologist at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, told Guinness World Records.