Story of premature baby born weighing just one pound captured in time lapse video

Walker Colt Pruett is finally home after 80 days in intensive care

Baby Walker Pruett was born weighing just over one pound (Capturing Hopes/YouTube)

A baby who was born three months premature has had his first 80 days in intensive care documented in an incredible time lapse video.

Walker Colt Pruett can be seen growing from a tiny 1lb 3oz in the Forsyth Medical Centre in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he had to be put on a ventilator before he could breathe and fed through tubes.

His parents, Erica and Jared Pruett, were expecting their baby on 31 July but he had to be born in an emergency caesarean in April.

Doctors told them his growth was restricted due to insufficient placenta not giving him the nutrients he needed.

After tests with sonograms and a foetal heart rate monitor, his heartbeat slowed dramatically from an average 150 beats a minute to 70 and doctors decided to operate.

When Walker was born on 25 April, he was less than 30cm long and had to be immediately taken away from his parents to intensive care.

Writing in a blog, the couple documented their baby’s recovery and their pain at only being able to hold their first child for 45 minutes a day.

He was allowed to go home on his due date last month after growing to five times his birth weight but the ordeal was not over for his family, who discovered he had a hernia needing surgery.

The little boy is now healthy and recovering at home, although he continues to be monitored.

Writing on the family’s blog on Friday, Mrs Pruett said he had reached 6lbs 1oz – more than five times his birth weight.

“We are so proud of Walker and how he is growing each day, he truly is an amazing little boy,” she added.

“We can now safely use his stroller and also put him in his swing, a whole new world just got opened up for the ‘lil guy today.

“Truly appreciate every minute with our little guy and we consider everyone that has been following his journey and praying for him a part of our family.”

Walker was one of several babies at the American hospital whose first days were documented by the Capturing Hopes photography project.

Deneen Bryan and volunteers photograph newborns in intensive care for free to record their progress for parents.