Bristol triplets set Guinness World Records for highest number of premature births and lightest combined weight | UK News

Rubi-Rose, Payton Jane, and Porsche-Mae Hopkins were born on February 14, 2021 with a total weight of 1,284 g (2 pounds, 13 oz).


Monday, March 27, 2023 10:07 PM, UK

The triplets born at just 22 weeks and five days have been awarded two Guinness World Records.

Rubi-Rose, Payton Jane, and Porsche-Mae Hopkins were born on February 14, 2021 with a total weight of 1,284 g (2 pounds, 13 oz).

One of their world records is for the lightest total weight for triplets, while the other is for being the most premature triplets ever recorded.

Rubi-Rose was born first at 10:21 a.m. weighing just 1 pound (467 g), while Payton Jane and Porsche-Mae were born nearly two hours later at 12:01 p.m. and 12:02 p.m., respectively, via C-section . They weighed only 402 g (0.89 lb) and 415 g (0.91 lb).

His 32-year-old mother, Michaela White of Bristol, said the two years since his birth have been “stressful” for her and her partner Jason Hopkins, 36.

“It was very, very stressful the first year (the triplets) were here,” White said in a Guinness World Records video.

Hopkins said the trip has been “mental.”

“I think the whole journey between finding out there were triplets and the triplets actually being here was, I think, the fastest pregnancy I’ve ever known. It was crazy,” she said.


Image:
Michaela White and Jason Hopkins with Porsche-Mae (left), Payton Jane and Rubi-Rose (right) Hopkins

‘Pretty traumatic’ birth

Ms White said “the day of the birth was quite traumatic” after she was transferred from St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol to Southmead, where she went into labour.

“I didn’t see any (of the triplets) when they were born.”

The three babies were rushed to incubators and wrapped in polyethylene wrap to act as their mother’s womb and regulate her body temperature.

The first 72 hours of the babies’ lives were the most critical, with each having to breathe independently for 10 seconds before doctors could intervene with oxygen.

Each child was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and remained there for 216 days.

“The NICU journey alone, any parent who’s been through it, whether it’s been two days or like we were 216 days, it’s one of the most difficult journeys they’ll go through,” said Mr. Hopkins.

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Caring for disabled children is ‘very, very difficult’

The triplets were born with cerebral palsy.

Rubi-Rose has a mild form of the disorder, while Payton Jane and Porsche-Mae have mobility issues and are tube fed.

Ms White said the process of caring for disabled children is “very, very difficult”.

“Sometimes it can be quite challenging with all the appointments, the people coming to your house and doing physical therapy with the girls every day,” she said.

“It can be really challenging for anyone with disabled children, but my partner and I, Jay, just get down to business and do what we have to do for them.”

The couple took to social media to document their trip, earning them more than 10,000 followers on TikTok as @hopkinstribe.

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