Premature babies are the most vulnerable category of human beings. They come into this world weak, weighing significantly less than normal babies, and face a huge number of health problems due to the fact that their organs have not had time to develop properly. As a result, they are forced to undergo special treatment in neonatal intensive care units. What happens to such children later when they begin to grow up? There is no clear prognosis. We bring to your attention a selection of photographs of the smallest babies in the world.
1. The two youngest children ever born are now fully recovered. The first baby, Rumaisa Rahman, has already entered first grade. The second girl, Madeline Mann, was already a college student. The third “record holder” is Melinda Star Guido, who has just left the hospital walls.
2. Rumaisa was born on September 19, 2004 at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. Her birth weight was only 9.2 ounces (260 grams). Today she is considered the smallest child in the world.
3. Rumaisa is one of two twins. The second girl, named Hiba, weighed 1 pound and 4 ounces (about 600 grams).
4. Rumaisa and Hiba December 21, 2004.
5. Rumaisa was born by caesarean section almost a month ahead of schedule, due to the fact that the mother’s blood pressure had risen. After birth, Rumaisa was immediately connected to a ventilator. The thickness of the tubes used for this was hardly more than the thickness of spaghetti.
6. Dr. William McMillan (left) and Dr. Jonathan Muraskas introduce Rumaisa to the public at a press conference. Dr. Muraskas nursed Rumais and another premature baby, Madeline, at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois.
7. Rumaisa and Hiba with their parents, Muhammad Abdul Rahman, left, and Mahajabin Shalk. The girls' mother had to take steroids to help the babies' lungs develop.
8. Rumaisa's name is translated from one of the Indian dialects as “whiter than milk.”
9. At age five, Rumaisa weighed 33 pounds (14.9 kilograms) and was 3.5 feet (1.06 meters) tall. She is now seven years old.
10. Madeline Mann was born in June 1989 at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. Her birth weight was 9.9 ounces. She had a minor cerebral hemorrhage, typical of such babies, but it did not cause serious consequences. In addition, the girl was diagnosed with retinopathy.
11. Now Madeline is 22 years old, and she has become a student specializing in psychology. The girl suffers from asthma and remains extremely slight - she is only 4.8 feet (1.46 meters) tall and weighs 65 pounds (29.4 kilograms). However, she does not currently have any other health problems. Jim Mann, Madeline's father, said that at first, immediately after the birth of his daughter, he was terribly scared, but now he is very proud of her. "We're all terribly lucky," he says.
12. Melinda Star Guido was born on August 30, 2011. She weighed only 9.5 ounces -270 grams, the same as a glass of soda. The girl was born at a medical center in Los Angeles.
13. Most of these children do not survive “For the first few weeks, we did not even count on such a miracle,” says Dr. Rangasamy Ramanathan, who treated the girl. The baby's mother, who had previously given birth to a stillborn child, begged doctors to do everything possible to save the baby. Doctors warned the parents, Heidi Ibarra and her husband Giovanni Guido, that children born prematurely often have developmental problems and may also suffer from various diseases, such as blindness, deafness or cerebral palsy.
14. Melinda was born by Caesarean section at 24 weeks and was immediately admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, where a team of doctors and nurses cared for her around the clock. Babies born before 37 weeks are considered premature.
15. Melinda was kept in an incubator connected to a special ventilation system. The girl's mother says that her daughter's skin seemed to her like thin cellophane.
16. Ibarra spent every day at the incubator in which Melinda was placed.
17. Melinda is considered the second smallest baby born in the United States, and the third in the world.
18. On January 20, 2012, after spending almost five months in the hospital, Melinda gained weight to 4.5 pounds (2.04 kilograms). And the doctors decided that the girl could be sent home. It is too early to predict what her development will be, and doctors plan to keep her under observation for the next six years.
