This is a guest post by my friend Silke. She had two premature sons: Max, born at 25 weeks and Felix, born at 28 weeks. She recently has put much effort into the launch of the Hearts Milk Bank, a not-for-profit social enterprise, which will soon operate in Greater London to fill the current shortages of donor milk in the area. Today, it’s World Prematurity Day and Silke wrote this post to educate us on the care of premature babies and the importance of donating milk.
Felix, born at 28 weeks, day 0 of his life
Pregnancy, we all know, for some women is pure bliss and for others a more arduous affair. But no matter how high or low you are feeling during pregnancy, nothing can prepare you for a premature birth.
My name is Silke and I live in London with my family. I am a mum of three, Lia, Max and Felix. My first pregnancy was easy. Lia was born at 37 weeks, which is not unusual. Labour was quick but all went well. Lia grew up and after a few years we tried for a second baby. The pregnancy was fine; I was healthy and happy to be having a second baby soon.
But then things went wrong. From one moment to the other I started having contractions at 25 weeks gestation. Doctors tried to stop labour unsuccessfully and 3 days later Max was born. He was a tiny boy, weighing only 750g (which is an average weight for a 25-weeker). Max was transferred to one of the UK’s best neonatal units, NICU. However, despite the best care, he passed away.
To loose Max was devastating and it took a long time to accept what had happened. Doctors did not know why I went into early labour and it seemed that we had just been unlucky. After a while we felt that our family wasn’t complete yet. We decided we could not possibly be unlucky a second time and tried again for a baby. I fell pregnant with Felix.
Having had a preterm baby, I was under close observation and had scans and blood tests regularly to keep a close eye on my pregnancy. All was fine, but still I stopped working at 24 weeks and took it easy. In the end we made it to 28 weeks with Felix. He too spent time on a NICU but luckily made it and is now a happy and healthy three-year-old boy.
Doctors still do not know why I give birth early.
Felix’ dad holding on to his dad’s thumb
Babies are increasingly born prematurely. In the UK for example, 70,000 babies (nearly 10% of all babies born) are born prematurely each year and the numbers are rising.
There are three gradations in prematurity: babies born between 24-28 weeks gestation, between 28-32 weeks and 32-37 weeks. There is a big leap in babies’ development especially around the 28 and 32 week mark. The care of premature babies depends mainly on three factors: their prematurity, the reason why they are born prematurely and how healthy the babies are the moment when they are born. In general, we can say that the earlier premature babies are born, the more difficult is their care.
When born, prematurely babies will spend time in an incubator, which keeps them warm. The earlier the babies are born the more difficulty they will have breathing, due to their underdeveloped lungs. There are various ways of helping babies to breath: a ventilator, if they are not able to breath by themselves; CPAP, which assists their breathing and blows air with slight pressure into their nose; and lastly oxygen tubes which are put under their noses with light oxygen flow. Both Max and Felix had all three before they were able to breath on their own.
To feed preterm babies is a rather medical procedure. In an ideal world, preterm babies are fed breast milk or donor milk through a tube. The feeding tube goes through their mouth or nose (if they do not need any breathing assistance) straight into their tiny stomachs. Only after 34-weeks gestation babies will have developed the sucking reflex and will be able to feed at the breast or bottle.
NICU nurses and neonatologists perform a lot of the medical care, but no matter how early the babies are born, the parents can still do a lot of the personal care of their little one(s):
Silke holding Max, kangaroo care
Thank you,
Silke
Comments (4)
Thank you for sharing your story! It was very educational and inspirational. And what a darling little boy you have.
Such a lovely piece, very close to my heart as my little princess was born at 29 weeks and we to were very fortunate to have had donor milk , having a premmie baby is a whole different world I found and now a bouncy bubbly 3year old 😍 I will definitely be supporting this x
Thanks so much for sharing!! My Emma was born at 26 weeks and weighed 890gr. Also, doctors didn’t know why that happened and a whole new world opened up to us. Now she is a healthy and smart 5 year old!!! I was lucky to be able to pump milk but I would explored the option of donor milk if I couldn’t provide for myself.
Such a great article! My son was born at 26 weeks and is now a happy healthy 6 year old. Nothing could have prepared me for having a premature baby especially after my first was born at term. Milk banks are so important what a brilliant idea!