23-week preemie hitting every milestone at two years old

A baby born at 23 weeks is now two years old and hitting all his developmental milestones.

Levi weighed just one pound when he was born in the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, in the US state of Virginia. Despite life-threatening complications, he was well enough to go home after six months in intensive care.

In Britain, abortion is available for most reasons up to 24 weeks, the age at which babies are deemed to be ‘viable’ outside the womb.

No heartbeat

Dr Pankaj Kumar explained that Levi was born without a heartbeat: “He was blue, he was limp, he was gasping. He required active resuscitation. We put a breathing tube in, stabilised him and brought him to the NICU.”

Mum Mary recalled her initial distress: “You see your baby in a bag and a little one-pound baby with a tube in his mouth.”

“You couldn’t see anything, but his little head. And the doctor had told me that the first 24 hours were going to be critical, but they were gonna do everything they could to save him”.

She remembered hearing the noise from the monitor when Levi’s heart stopped during the resuscitation, noting there was not “a dry eye in there, but they steadily worked and they worked on him”.

“I remember them saying that we have a heartbeat, and he hasn’t lost it since”.

Thriving

Levi’s mum described him as “a strong little guy” and explained that he is about to start preschool.

Nurse MacKenzie Babson, one of those who cared for Levi, said the team “don’t usually get to see when they’re grown and healthy and thriving and meeting all these milestones”, and that “it’s really, really special to see that he’s a crazy little boy, and he’s perfectly well”.

Catherine Robinson, spokeswoman for Right To Life UK, said: “Baby Levi’s extraordinary progress, from being born at just 23 weeks and given a 20% chance of survival to thriving at the age of two, demonstrates the remarkable resilience of premature babies”.

“His story also shows the difference that skilled neonatal care and a dedicated medical team can make. Every child, however small and vulnerable, deserves to be cared for and given every opportunity to thrive”.