ST. CROIX COUNTY, Wis. — Richard Scott William Hutchinson is a fighter and more than a little stubborn, and his parents are perfectly OK with that.
Against all odds, literally, the Wisconsin infant celebrated his first birthday June 5 after doctors gave his parents a grim prognosis immediately following his birth at only 21 weeks, or roughly five months premature.
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A baby born weighing less than a pound has beaten the odds and celebrated his first birthday, becoming the most premature baby to survive, according to Guinness World Records. Richard Scott William Hutchinson was born five months prematurely. https://t.co/wntJi3zTiD
— CNN (@CNN) June 19, 2021
“When [his father] Rick and [his mother] Beth received prenatal counseling on what to expect with a baby born so early, they were given a 0% chance of survival by our neonatology team,” Dr. Stacy Kern, Richard’s neonatologist at Children’s Minnesota, told Guinness World Records.
Kern spoke with the record experts because Richard has now been officially named the most premature baby in the world to survive, CNN reported.
Richard, who weighed only 11.9 ounces at birth, was finally able to join his family in their St. Croix County, Wisconsin, home in December 2020, after spending more than six months hospitalized.
“The day Richard was discharged from the NICU was such a special day. I remember picking him up out of his crib and just holding him with tears in my eyes,” Kern told CNN.
“I couldn’t believe this was the same little boy that once was so sick that I feared he may not survive. The same little boy that once fit in the palm of my hand, with skin so translucent that I could see every rib and vessel in his tiny body. I couldn’t help but squeeze him and tell him how proud I was of him,” she added.
The Hutchinsons told WCCO in April that Richard, who weighed less at birth than a traditional can of Coca-Cola, had grown to 13 pounds by nine months, was being weaned off oxygen and was teething like a champ.
“I am proud of him. I don’t think I could have gone through what he went through,” Rick Hutchinson told the TV station. “To watch Richard grow and watch him develop into this happy little amazing person, there’s just no feeling like it.”
Click here to see photos of Richard provided by his parents to CNN.
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