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Until 30 years ago, a newborn baby had to weigh at least 1000 grams for doctors to save him. Even premature babies weighing half as much are going through today. On November 17, we celebrate the World Premature Baby Day
- Mothers of premature babies often blame themselves. They think they did something wrong, that they didn’t know how to terminate the pregnancy
- For some, the sight of my own child in an incubator, entangled in cables, connected to apparatus is a shock
- There are many reasons for being born before the due date. But there are also spontaneous preterm births for no good reason
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
– My daughter did not look like other babies born on the same day, but on a date. Her skin was almost completely translucent, reddish pink, and fluffy. Through it, as though through thin paper, blood vessels and bluish veins showed through. The face was wrinkled, which made it look like an old woman – says Ania, Ola’s mother, who was born at the turn of the 27th and 28th week of pregnancy. She weighed 900 g, measured 35 cm and scored 6 Apgar points.
The woman recalls that when she saw her baby on the second day after giving birth, she thought she was so disproportionate. With a huge head in relation to the rest of the body, skinny hands and legs. And a long torso with a bloated belly.
– This feeling when you see your baby in an incubator, entangled with cables, connected to tubes and surrounded by mysterious apparatus, cannot be described. Ola was so tiny and skinny that she scared me. No wave of motherly love came to me. The first was fear – he recalls.
Why are babies born ahead of time?
In Poland, over 6 percent ends prematurely. births, but the Central Statistical Office data shows that the number of premature babies is increasing and currently nearly 24 are born every year.
Until 30 years ago, a newborn baby had to weigh at least 1000 grams to be saved by doctors, today even premature babies weighing half as much survive.
There are many reasons for being born before the due date. These include serious developmental defects or genetic diseases. But also placenta previa, a complication of abnormally low implantation of the placenta in the uterus.
Women with hypertension are more likely to give birth prematurely. Induced by pregnancy and untreatable, it causes such changes in the placenta that termination of pregnancy – most often by caesarean section – turns out to be a necessity. It happens that even in the 28th week of the fetus’s life.
Women with diabetes who are addicted to alcohol, drugs and cigarettes are at risk. Also, multiple pregnancies usually end sooner because it gets too tight in the uterus.
Therefore, twins are usually born on 36-37. week, triplets 34-35 and quadruplets 30-32 week of pregnancy.
80 percent Preterm labor occurs due to intrauterine infection, vaginitis and amniotic fluid. The cause can be fibroids, defects and diseases of the uterus. There are spontaneous preterm births for no specific reason.
This was not what motherhood was supposed to look like
– I was torn by contradictory feelings, I did not want to spend time with Ola, and at the same time something prevented me from leaving her even for a moment. I was afraid to go to her, touch her. I wasn’t able to enjoy myself in any way. This is not how I imagined motherhood. And I was crying with helplessness, because we were separated from each other by the incubator shafts.
It hurt that I couldn’t take the baby in my arms, hug it and kiss it. I felt useless, useless for anything. When I left the hospital, I cried. I felt sorry for myself because I came here with my belly, and I’m leaving without it and without the baby.
I was haunted by the thought that the baby was about to die and that I would not be with her. It did not break my heart with pride that I became a mother. In my eyes, I was the worst mother in the world who didn’t even know how to carry on pregnancy
– describes the beginnings of her motherhood Ania.
Be close
All newborns, especially those born prematurely, need close contact with their mother. This calms them down. Calm down, they need less oxygen, they sleep better, eat better and gain weight faster. Respiratory disturbances decrease, the immune system matures.
As soon as a child is so stable that, even if assisted by a respirator, he or she breathes regularly, his heart is working, and the blood oxygen saturation is correct, the medical staff allows for kangarooing.
It is important to both of them. And for mothers also because they feel needed. Their sense that everything depends only on doctors and apparatus decreases significantly. Oxytocin is released, a hormone responsible, among other things, for the bond between mother and child.
Premature babies – little heroes
Ania says that it was difficult for her to calmly think about the nurses feeding her daughter with a probe. That she was alone at night with cold equipment, that she was crying. That he has his mother, but far, behind the incubator glass.
– Ola was under a respirator for six days, then she required passive oxygen therapy until the 45th day of her life.
During all this time, her little body has been through an unimaginably much: blood transfusions, necrotizing enterocolitis, XNUMXnd degree intraventricular hemorrhages, anemia, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, increased muscle tone. However, she turned out to be a heroine, she survived.
– Today Ola is 12 months old and she says the most important word for me: «mother». She is not walking yet, but is already shuffling with her feet, held under her arm. She is undergoing rehabilitation, we are under the constant care of a neurologist, audiologist, ophthalmologist and neonatologist.
Hears, sees. She is a busy girl and I believe that thanks to exercise, she will soon be able to walk alone – ends her story Ania.
The editorial board recommends:
- Where do twins and triplets come from?
- Naprotechnology versus in vitro. How do they differ and what is their effectiveness in the fight against infertility?
- The most common diseases of premature babies – respiratory distress syndrome, delayed development, enteritis
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