Science or Miracle?

I ran across a report about the smallest premature baby to survive and I’m astounded at the rate medicine has progressed. In a former life I was a paramedic and had many opportunities to deliver babies in the field, and let me tell you a successful field delivery is a wonderful experience. Back then the common wisdom was that a fetus under a thousand grams weight and less then 27 weeks of gestation would “most likely” not survive. Usually because the child’s lungs had not developed to the point of being able to breathe and the kid would not be able to breathe.

The smallest child I ever delivered weighed into life at right around 900 grams (just about a pound) and was small enough to hold in the palm of one hand. My personal miracle was that we were able to keep that kid warm and breathing until we got to the hospital and then transport her onward to a Level 1 neonatal facility. That made me feel good and I’ve occasionally wondered how it all turned out, but as usual, we never heard.

The article I read discussed a little girl that was born in Germany last fall. She was only half way through the second trimester (21 weeks and 5 days) and weighed at birth just 460 grams or just about half a pound.  Don’t know if that young lady is alive today because of science or if a miracle happened. I just know that a physical event that just a few years ago was not considered possible has been proven wrong.