Why I Fight for Preemies
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:36I’ve written about it so many times, I don’t know what I’ve said and what I haven’t anymore. But, today is Prematurity Awareness Day, and I HAVE to say something.
Prematurity has cast it’s shadow on my life more than once. The first time I was just a girl. My aunt and uncle had a little boy, and lost him because he was born too soon. It was November. I’m not entirely sure how old I was when he was born, but I was old enough to know that nothing could possibly be more sad than losing a baby.
The next time prematurity cast it’s shadow on our lives, one of my cousins on the other side of my family was born too soon. I remember that she was in the NICU, and that she came home from the hospital around Easter. I remember thinking she was incredibly tiny when we went to her baptism.
Later came a friend’s premature son, and not long after that, my own daughters, born 4 and 9 weeks early respectively. You already know their stories.
Thankfully, in the decades that past between my cousins’ early births and my own girls, some aspects of neonatal care have improved. We’ve learned how to manage oxygen better, and how to use artificial surfactant to help fragile lungs expand. I know there are other things that have changed, but as I sit and think about the preemies in my life, the details suddenly escape me.
Unfortunately, there are still so many things we don’t know how to fix, and so I write, to Fight for Preemies.
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MoDDaisy says:
November 17th, 2009 at 9:33 am
I think your story really highlights that preterm labor can happen to anyone. It can happen to friends and families we feel most connected with and then it can happen to us.
Medical advances and technology have come a long way in helping the lives of so many preemies and their families, but there is still so much more work to be done.
Although doctors have made tremendous advances in caring for babies born too small and too soon, we need to find out how to prevent preterm birth from happening in the first place. Despite decades of research, scientists have not yet developed effective ways to help prevent premature delivery.
Together with your help and support all babies will be born healthy…one day. On behalf of the March of Dimes, thank you for sharing your story and for joining us in the fight for preemies.
MoDBev says:
November 17th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I only recently discovered that my my elder sister who died as a baby was actually a preemie. She was born at 22 weeks. She did not make it and my mother still holds her in her heart decades later. All of us know someone that was or had a preemie. That’s why it is so important to fight. Thank you so much for your support, all the writing that you do about prematurity and for being a March of Dimes mom. We CAN make a difference.