New Preemie Study-Scarry Stuff
Posted on March 26, 2008
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Have you read the article Preemies more likely to die in childhood? My husband sent me a link this morning. I had read it already and processed the information. I think he was surprise I hadn’t freaked-out on him after reading it. When I first read the article it scared the shit out of me! I wonder how many other parents of premature babies will be watching their kids sleep tonight, my guess is a lot.
So, after my daughters survive the trauma of being born at only 30 weeks, I find out they are now at risk for dying young, getting childhood cancer, or being infertile as they move into adulthood. Great news for parents who already worry enough about the long-term effects of their children’s prematurity!
Prematurity if the leading killer of new born babies. About 10 percent of babies born premature died prior to their first birthday. This study, though, presents new information about the increased risk of my daughters dying as they age and all because they were born premature. Thankfully, girls have a lessened likelihood to die than boys (although that doesn’t bode well for my friends with preemie boys).
The study goes on to say that if my daughters are lucky enough to live into adulthood (okay, it’s not that drastic), they would most likely experience infertility. To top it off, if they do become pregnant then they’ll be at a higher risk for delivering a premature baby too.
So where does that leave us? With 540,000 babies being born premature each year, just in the United States, we’re increasing the already sobering statistics of couples struggling with infertility. It’s an epidemic waiting to happen. If we could only reduce premature birth, we’d be able to positively impact future generations of babies.
There is one way we can easily reduce the rate of prematurity – convince the insurance companies to provide coverage for infertility treatments. Let them somewhat regulate the number of embryos transfered to reduce the occurrence of twins, triplets and quads. This one step will reduce the frequency of prematurity and improve the lives of millions of couples and babies!
» Filed Under Premature Births
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