An extremely premature baby, born at only 25 weeks and so fragile that he had to be placed in bubble wrap to keep him safe and warm, is now a happy, healthy one-year-old.
Larenz Carr was born in October 2019 at 25 weeks gestation, just one week after the legal abortion limit in the UK for babies without disabilities. It was a difficult birth and at times his parents feared he would not survive.
Medics first noticed a problem when his mum, Vickie Carr, had a routine 20-week scan and it was discovered that her son wasn’t growing. Only a week later, after Vickie returned with a headache, she was told that she would have to stay in the hospital and that her son might be born early.
She said: “They told me they wanted to keep my baby in my tummy for as long as possible”.
“It was terrifying, I had no idea if my little baby boy would make it”.
Things got worse when, during her 25th week of pregnancy, doctors realised that Vickie’s placenta was failing and she was rushed for an emergency caesarean section.
Baby Larenz only weighed 13oz when he was born and his mum said: “He was the same size as my hand and so transparent”.
“He looked all shiny, like he was covered in oil”.
Larenz was initially placed in a sandwich bag that acted as an imitation of his mother’s womb. After being placed in an incubator, he was then covered in bubble wrap. He spent the next five months in the incubator before he was well enough to be sent home.
His mum said: “It’s just amazing that nothing was wrong with him and he’s come home healthy and thriving”.
His Dad, Rohan, added: “When I first saw Larenz I was so scared and worried about what the outcome would be”.
“I’d never seen a baby so small. We were just so happy he was alive and to see how he thrives now is amazing. He’s our little miracle”.
Born before the abortion limit
It is becoming more and more common for babies born before the abortion limit in Britain to survive. In October last year, another severely premature baby was born in Scotland almost 2 weeks below the abortion limit. Sofia Viktoria Birina weighed only 500g, but by February this year, she was healthy enough to be sent home with her parents.
Baby Larenz and baby Sofia are not alone in being born so prematurely and going on to survive. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October 2019, followed 2.56 million babies born in Sweden between 1973 and 1997, around six percent of whom were born prematurely.
Researchers compared the health data of the premature babies to those that had been born at full term. They found that 55% of premature babies had no serious chronic, physical, or mental health issues by early adulthood. This is compared to 63% for babies born at full term.
Additionally, with each passing decade, the odds of survival for a premature baby to adulthood have improved from about 91% of babies born in the 1970s to about 96% of those born in the 1990s.
Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “These wonderful stories of premature babies going on to survive are becoming almost common-place. How long will it take our lawmakers to re-examine our cruel abortion laws that permit abortion even after the point at which babies are able to survive outside of the womb?”
“Of course, babies who cannot survive outside the womb have the same dignity and worth as the babies that can, and their lives should not be ended either. But the fact that more and more premature babies are going on to survive undercuts one of the main reasons given for our current abortion law”.
