Today is the day. The day we remember that so many kids in the US (over 10% in all but 2 states) are born prematurely. Check out your state here.
My own baby was born prematurely. 3 weeks. Technically she was 36 weeks and 6 days (4 if you count the 2 I spent in the hospital). Most first time mothers are OVERdue, as in 42 weeks or more. Ours was born severely jaundiced, although the main complication was that she didn’t end up getting to be a great nurser right off the bat (if you don’t count that we weren’t allowed to hold her outside of feeding her from Friday morning (a few hours old) to Monday morning on discharge). I however, do count that. She was in her bili-bed the whole time and it probably made bonding a lot harder for me, especially. Once she was 3 months old and had been somewhat reliably nursing on one side, I took the plunge and cold-turkeyed the pump. Yikes. That was insane, but she is still doing well. She seems to be hitting her milestones around average, and seems smarter than the average bear (right, Granddad, right, she can UNDERSTAND YOU when you say throw that food over your shoulder, I don’t care if she’s 1, she gets it!) Ha!
Every baby deserves 40 weeks! What can you do, what can you give to support the research and awareness for expectant mothers? Check with your local March of Dimes and see what you can do to help!
Keeley in her Bili-bed
Nursing may be natural, but it’s hard, and complications at birth make that all the harder. Good for you for staying committed. I never managed to ditch the pump, mostly because I returned to work when my twins were 11 weeks old. They were born at 33 weeks gestation.
Thanks for participating in Prematurity Awareness Day. It’s been heartwarming to realize how many of us have premature children, and how many other parents do “get it”, when it comes to the feelings of guilt and worry.
Good for you for promoting awareness!
My Baby Boy was born at 32 weeks and spent many more weeks in the NICU due to a lot of heartbreaking birth defects.
I never was able to successfully breast feed due to some mouth abnormalities, but the hospital provided me with an electric breast pump and an endless supply of those little 2 oz bottles and so he got all the breast milk he needed just the same. Also it helped because he had to stay in the NICU for several months before I could bring him home. The nurses were able to feed him breast milk. I had a HUGE supply.
He took a LONG time to catch up, but now, 16 years later . . . he’s right on target and still the light of my life.
Every baby certainly does deserve 40 weeks.
Thanks so much for sharing your own personal story of prematurity. Thanks also for helping us at the March of Dimes spread the word about the problem of preterm birth. With your help, we are fighting prematurity every day.
For more about our work, please go to http://www.marchofdimes.com/fight.
With good wishes,
Pam
March of Dimes
Thanks for being part of the BloggersUnite event and helping to raise awareness for the March of Dimes and all they do.