SMALLEST PAIR

The Lafayette Daily Advertiser - March 22, 2004
http://www.theadvertiser.com/news/html/D2EFF351-5E65-43B4-AED1-771A268E7F1A. shtml
Guinness confirms that Alexandria twins born as world's smallest pair
Hospital officials say infants were no taller than a fountain pen.

ALEXANDRIA (AP) - Twin 4-year-olds Chloe and Courtney Smith are Guinness World Record holders: They are the tiniest surviving set of twins. Cloe and Courtney weighed a combined 24.5 ounces at birth, well below the previous record of 30.33 ounces. Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital received an e-mail last week from Guinness confirming the record, hospital spokesman Jimmy Touchet said. "They not only broke the record, they shattered the record," Touchet said.

The twins were delivered months early by Caesarean section at Rapides Women's and Children's Hospital, then taken immediately to Cabrini's intensive care unit for newborns. At first, doctors didn't have much hope. Chloe weighed 12.5 ounces. Courtney weighed 12 ounces. Each infant was about as tall as a fountain pen, said Theresa Slater, Cabrini's Children's Miracle Network director. "We were told not to expect them to live," said Carmen Smith of Alexandria, the girls' mother. "After about a week and a half, they told us all the things we could expect to go wrong - and as weeks went by, none of that happened. We were very thankful. Our prayers were answered."

Today, the girls go to special prekindergarten classes. They weigh 24 pounds each and receive some physical and occupational therapy, but they have no developmental delays and no physical disabilities. Said Smith: "That's still very tiny for a 4-year-old, but they're getting taller."

CThe Lafayette Daily Advertiser