Baby born at 23 weeks thrives
One of Britain’s youngest premmies to survive
BORN prematurely weighing just 0.4kg and barely bigger than his mother’s hand, Flynn Parry had little chance of survival. Arriving four months early and a week before the legal limit for abortion, he suffered serious medical problems and had to spend 18 weeks in hospital.
But Flynn fought hard for his life and came through the ordeal, becoming one of Britain’s youngest premature babies to survive. That was in February 2016. Now a lively toddler, he “runs rings” around parents Hoda Ali, a customer services executive, and Owen Parry, a marketing executive.
Ali, 36, who went into labour unexpectedly 23 weeks into her pregnancy, said Flynn was just over half the size of the average newborn when he was born last year – 28cm long compared to 50cm.
His parents were told he had a slim chance of surviving even a day. Ali said: “Doctors said only one in six babies survived the night at his age. Even the one that lived only had a 50% chance of surviving.”
Flynn had to be swaddled in bubble wrap after birth to recreate the warm protection of his mother’s womb, and put on a ventilator to help him breathe. He then battled sepsis, potentially deadly blood poisoning, and suffered two brain bleeds.
He also developed a condition common among premature babies called retinopathy of prematurity, where the retinas detach from the back of the eye.
At just 13 weeks he had laser surgery on his eyes. He also underwent other gruelling operations, including one to remove a hernia at 17 weeks.
Ali, who had to wait a week before she could even hold her son, said: “A doctor told me ‘He’s a fighter, all premature babies are’. It was true. I didn’t connect to him for about 10 days after he arrived, though. He was just so, so small. I thought he looked like an alien or a baby bird.”
But she said the moment she could finally cuddle him was “wonderful”.
Flynn, who was originally due on June 6, was finally allowed home from hospital on June 16 – still small, but healthy.
The world’s youngest premmies to survive are James Elgin Gill, born in Canada in 1987, and Frieda Mangold, born in Germany in 2012, both at 21 weeks. – Daily Mail