‘Miracle’ Baby Austin, Born at 22 Weeks, is One of Britain’s Smallest Surviving Preemies

By Nancy Flanders

Live Action News

Baby boy Austin Douglas weighed just one pound, four ounces when he was born at 22 weeks gestation on March 31, 2017. Doctors had little hope that Austin would survive, but after weeks in the hospital in Britain, he is doing so well that doctors expect him to be able to go home in July with his parents Rhys and Helen.

Austin’s mother Helen Douglas went into premature labor. By the time she arrived at the hospital, she was fully dilated, and there wasn’t anything doctors could do to stop the labor.

“We were asked if we wanted medical assistance for him, given how premature he was,” Douglas told the Daily Mail. “I told doctors that if he came out breathing, I wanted them to do everything they could and they did.”

Austin’s skin was still translucent, and his lungs and ears hadn’t fully developed. The medical team took him straight to an incubator and did everything they could to help him live. He was later transferred to Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, where he developed a lung infection twice. 

His prognosis was initially not good, but Austin is now being cared for at Leicester Royal Infirmary and has improved enough that doctors hope he can be discharged by his original due date of July 28th.

According to the Daily Mail, Douglas has polycystic ovary syndrome and therefore calls Austin a “miracle twice over” since she didn’t think she could even have children.

“When I found out I was pregnant, I was ecstatic,” she said. “I love him so much and I’m so grateful for all the care he’s had.”

Austin still has a long way to go, but his life is a testimony to the fact that preborn children are living human beings.

Live Action News continues

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