It’s No Big Deal…
Posted on October 20, 2008
At a luncheon event I attended today I briefly shared my story of infertility and premature birth. At the end of the meeting a woman puts her hand on my shoulders and says, “Having a premature baby is no big deal.” She went on to tell me that both of her children, born premature, are excelling in college and pursuing highly technical degrees.
But it is a big deal. My girls are 4 years old and they are doing good. They seem to be developmentally on track with their full-term peers. If you were to look at them today you would assume they are fine and the fact that they were born premature is no big deal. However, prematurity is the leading killer of newborns in the United States. Also, many premature babies have physical or learning disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, hearing loss, vision loss, etc., because they were born premature.
In addition, so much of the development of a baby occurs within the last 8 weeks of pregnancy. The lungs and brain don’t fully develop until the end of the third trimester. Besides, having a baby spend time in the NICU is a less than fun experience. Not to say the emotional, physical and possibly financial drain it places on the couple (and especially the new mom).
As National Infertility Awareness Week starts and National Prematurity Awareness Month approaches in November, we need to be sensitive to not only the issue of infertility, but also that of premature birth. Women who undergo fertility treatments are at a slightly higher risk of having a baby born too soon.
For free teleseminars offer by RESOLVE this week, click here. They have established a members only resource of great information, lists of doctors, and much more. To learn more, click here.
» Filed Under Premature Births, Resources, pregnancy
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2 Responses to “It’s No Big Deal…”
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Are you kidding me?? No big deal?? Is she mad?
I hated every second of the struggle for my two NICU babies just to breathe. I felt horrible guilt for “failing” them and delivering them too soon. I felt empty when I could not have them “room in” while I recovered from my csections. I hated leaving them at the hospital, day after day and not having them home with me, where they belonged – healthy and whole. My oldest daughter has scars all over her heals from the countless heel sticks she had. She has a scar on her chest from where they needled her for the pneumothorax. Her hair covers the scar from her arterial line – but the iv scars are still visible and this is 12 years later! If there was anything I could have done to keep them in longer, I would have done it – gladly, willingly! My daughter and son were born at 33 and 36 weeks respectively. Daughter spent 3 weeks and son only 1 week – it was still awful and stressful! Even though developmentally they have both been on target since before their first birthdays – it was a very big deal. The first couple years were tough – healthwise. It has gotten better. The only thing that made having them that early was the fact that it was how they survived pregnancy.
Costwise – it was a huge deal. Physically and mentally – an even bigger deal. I am very grateful that hospitals are equipped to deal with premature infants – but that doesn’t mean I would ever want to take advantage of those services.
Yeesh.
She obviously had no idea who she was dealing with…lol