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After turning one, Adiah and Adrial Nadarajah were named the world’s most premature twins by Guinness World Records. The previous record was held by twins from Iowa, United States, born in 2015, 125 days early. But the record for youngest surviving baby is held by Curtis Means. He was born in Alabama at just 21 weeks and one day.

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Premature labor

Shakina Rajendram, the babies’ mother, went into labor after just 21 weeks and five days of pregnancy. She was rushed to hospital after experiencing extreme contractions, pain and bleeding.

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Doctors there declared that the babies were “not viable” and had “no chance of survival” due to their gestational age. However, an ultrasound revealed the twins were still “very much alive”, with strong heartbeats and no distress. So the mother was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, which could care for extremely premature babies like them.

Doctors said the mother should “suspend” the pregnancy until she is 22 weeks old. Because if they had been born before, the children would not survive. Shakina’s water broke shortly after midnight on March 4, 2022. Adiah, the daughter, was born at 1:22 a.m. and weighed 330 grams. Adrial arrived shortly after, at 1:45 a.m. with 420 grams.

Immediately after their birth, they were diagnosed with brain hemorrhages. The boy’s case was more serious. He also suffered from lung and kidney problems and sepsis. The babies spent six months in the hospital before being discharged.

“‘In the midst of this whole scenario where we hear that the chances of survival are practically zero percent, the chances of disability and significant handicap are very high, we were just clinging to our hope and our faith, trusting God We saw babies die often before our eyes,” Shakina told the Daily Mail.