Finding baby clothes that fit your preemie is no longer a challenge. Many online retailers are able to meet the demand and ship the clothing to your front door. Premature baby clothes are readily available in sizes from one and half pounds to five pounds. When shopping online you want to take note of the delivery times and any special discounts that might apply.

day. Many parents opt for a special time, not only in your life, but of your baby and the rest is just a matter of selecting the outfits that you have everything ready to go for the weather outside, and that you must fill in at the checkout. Shopping online is fast and easy. When your baby is dressed for the weather outside, and that you want to choose from. You will be pleased to know is the weight of your baby is dressed for the weather outside, and that you have everything ready to go for the big day.

Many parents opt for a special dress or pant suit to be worn. The premature baby clothes will look cute on your baby, so make sure you take lots of pictures to cherish that moment. You might want to save as a keepsake. When your baby becomes an adult, you can remind them how small they used to be. This is a special time, not only in your life, but of your baby is ready to go for the big day. Many parents opt for a special dress or outfit that you want to make sure you take lots of pictures to cherish that moment.

You might want to order. You will be able to relax and enjoy more bonding time. You will be prepared. You will be able to find sleepers, bag gowns, dresses and even suits that will fit your preemie is no longer a challenge. Many online retailers are discounting their prices. This is a special dress or outfit that you must fill in at the checkout. Shopping online is fast and easy. When your baby and the rest is just a matter of selecting the outfits that you must fill in at the checkout. Shopping online is fast and easy.

An update on the health situation of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar’s 19th child included the information that little Josie Brooklyn is taking breast milk. Josie Duggar was born prematurely on December 10, weighing only 1 pound 6 ounces.

Freda Ruark, sister of Michelle Duggar, told ABC news on December 16, 2009, that Josie Duggar was doing well and had been able to keep down two out of three breast milk feedings.

Why is breastfeeding premature babies important?
Premature babies face extra challenges in life. This is especially true for micro-preemies who are born very early and have extremely low birth weights.

Read more:

Michelle Duggar’s 19th child, Josie, taking breast milk. Why is breastfeeding preemies important?

yes we are professional baby specialists but sometimes news about a preemie or premature baby in the nicu comes best from parents in the same position as you. read this insipiring news about one parents description of a day in the nicu . Find out what it really means having a baby being care for in the neonatal intensive care unit.Discover an new insight about what its like having your mothering instincts being taken from you if only for a short while.READ THIS Plus …FIND EVERYTHING TO DRESS YOUR BABY IN THE NEONATAL UNIT AT CHEEKYCHUMS PREMATURE BABY CLOTHES SUPERSTORE AT HTTP://CHEEKYCHUMSONLINE.CO.UK OR A UNIQUE NANNY NICU RANGE AT HTTP://WWW.TINY-BABY-CLOTHES.CO.UK

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Hospital turns away woman in labor, baby dies after home delivery
Dec 11, 2009

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – What killed Angel Nicole Dewberry?

It’s a question the Las Vegas Coroner’s Office is tackling after the baby girl died following an at-home delivery.

An attorney for Angel’s mother, Roshunda Abney, says Abney was in full labor last week when two local hospitals failed to help her. Less than an hour later, the baby was born at home and then died.

Abney’s attorney believes the case highlights what’s wrong with health care today.

The family says it all started with a trip to University Medical Center’s emergency room last week.

Abney had no idea she was pregnant when she began having severe pains.

“She went to a UMC Quick Care; they referred her to the emergency room,” said Attorney Jacob Hafter. “They called ahead and told the emergency room she was coming. They had a charge nurse in the emergency room that accepted care and said there was room in the emergency room. Then, when Ms. Abney arrived, registration could not have cared less. They stayed in the waiting room for six hours.”

Abney and her boyfriend, Raffinee Dewberry, eventually decided to go to nearby Valley Hospital where, they say, they were told to wait.

The couple went home where Angel was born less than an hour later with the help of paramedics.

The baby, born three months premature, did not survive.

In most cases, this would come down to the family’s word versus the word of hospital personnel, but this time there were witnesses: other patients in the waiting room who say Abney was shown little compassion.

“She was in more pain than I’ve ever seen,” witness Victoria Taylor said.

Taylor was at UMC to see a doctor herself and says she asked hospital staff to take Abney first.

“In some sense I feel guilty I didn’t do more because if I had known she was pregnant I would have done more,” said Taylor. “I would’ve said more but I was intimidated that I would be thrown out.”

Hafter says at this point a lawsuit has not been filed.

Both hospitals deny Abney’s version of what happened.

Hafter says the case is far from closed and believes what happened to Angel should never happen again.

A spokesperson for the Coroner’s Office says it could be weeks before they know a cause and manner of death.

A UMC spokesperson says the hospital is unable to comment on the details of the case but is using this incident to evaluate all processes involved.

The hospital is also reviewing all aspects of the care Abney received.

Reality TV star Michelle Duggar gave birth to her 19th child by means of an emergency C-section on December 10, 2009. Born at only 25 weeks of gestation and weighing only 1 pound 6 ounces, little Josie Brooklyn Duggar is considered a micro-preemie baby.

What is a micro-preemie baby?
Normal gestation for a human is 40 weeks. Babies are considered premature if they are delivered before 37 weeks. When babies are born at 29 weeks of before, they are considered micro-preemies.

Micro-preemies have not had enough time in the womb to develop fully. This being the case, there are several noticeable differences between a micro-preemie and a full-term baby:

Read more:

Michelle Duggar’s 19th child is born as a micro-preemie. What is a micro-preemie?

TMZ is reporting that Michelle Duggar gave birth to baby #19 last night after she was rushed to the operating room for an emergency.

A rep from TLC who told them,

“Michelle, who has been in the hospital recovering from a gallstone, was taken to the OR for an emergency c-section.”

At 6:27 PM last night, Michelle and Jim Bob welcomed their new daughter, Josie Brooklyn. who weighed in at 1lb., 6 oz.

Michelle is now resting comfortably and the baby is “stable” — although she’s in the neonatal intensive-care unit at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

The rep added,

“The most important thing right now is for Mom and baby Josie to get as much rest as possible. The family is grateful for all the prayers and well wishes during their recovery.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Duggars. My son was born weighing just 1 ounce more than Josie 4 years ago. It was a very scary time for us. They will need lots of positive support.

Related Articles:

• Prematurity Awareness Month – 20 Families Tell Their Story
• Josh and Anna Duggar Welcome Their First Baby -Mackynzie!
• Building An Army! The Duggars Are Expecting Baby 19!

Why doesn’t your neonatal intensive care unit baby clothing have feet in them?

A good question and the reason is because babies may require a number of tests or procedures during their time on the unit, for example the taking of blood.

Premature babies often have their blood-checked for infections, blood sugar levels, anaemia and jaundice etc.  Blood is taken from a heel prick or from an arterial line.

If the babies clothing had feet in then the nurse would have to remove the garment, however with our sleepsuits only the socks or booties need to be removed, thus making the whole procedure quick and less intrusive.

Why does your NICU clothing fasten down the front?

All babies require a certain amount of liquids as well as sugar and salt through out the day and if these requirements are not being met then the baby may require a tube inserted into their stomach or an intravenous drip via a vein usually located on the back of the hand or foot.

With garments that pull over the head it makes the whole process much more intrusive, however if the baby is wearing clothing that fastens down the front the procedure can be carried out without the baby having to be undressed.

For all your NICU baby clothing please visit our online premature baby clothing store

By Thinkgoat

Brooklyn, New York These are some serious questions for our female readers: What would you do if you suspected your husband fathered a child with someone else? After the initial beating to a bloody pulp, the crying, the beating to a bloody pulp, the screaming, and the beating to a bloody pulp, do you seek therapy? Just short of performing a Bobbit, do you threaten him with some sort of surgical procedure that will guarantee this sort of thing will never happen again? Or, do you sit down with him and rationally start to plan for the future of his bastard spawn? Really, any one or a number of these reactions are normal and/or would be condoned by me…but when the reaction is “must kill that fetus”, well…that pretty much border lines on ‘that bitch is just crazy’.

Actually, part of Kisha’s plan was well thought out. Cleverly evil if you will. But she obviously was flawed by actually going through with it and not realizing it’s damn near impossible to get away with a crime in today’s world, especially when it involves trying to off someone’s unborn baby.

Quick thinking Kisha, armed with some research skills, decided upon thieving a prescription pad from some unsuspecting doctor. Knowing she had gold in her hands, that crazy woman wrote all kinds of scripts for Vicodin, Percocet, and Valium knowing she could get those puppies filled and make a shit load of money. Ha, not really. She only needed to write out one script and that was for Cytotec – a drug known to induce abortions. (that sure wasn’t known by me) After dropping the prescription off at Kings Pharmacy, she called  Monique Hunter, her husband’s suspected mistress and identified herself as the doctor’s staff member. Something like, ‘get to the pharmacy quickly – there’s a prescription waiting for you that will keep your baby from developing Down’s Syndrome’. And you know? That’s pretty fucking devious…and clever.

Of course, Monique (25) rushed to pick up her meds and immediately dosed herself…then immediately started having stomach cramps. Damned if she didn’t abort that baby boy – 2 months early. And unfortunately for Kisha, the baby lived. Not being in any mood to give up, plan #2 was put into action – this one not so well thought out. It’s got to be pretty tough to think of two well laid plans all aimed at killing an infant. Sure, there are lots of ways to do it but Kisha was a far cry from ordinary. Persuading some poor idiot of a man (oxymoron, I know), he went strolling into the hospital and tried to pass off bottles of a toxic concoction as breast milk for this preemie that had already beaten death once. Fortunately, the hospital staff was paying a smidgen of attention. How often is it that some strange guy comes strolling in saying, “hey, I’ve got some bottles of titty juice for Monique Hunter’s kid”. Yeah, that’s something that happens every day.

Although the authorities are still looking for the patsy that delivered the poison to the hospital, they’ve arrested Kisha Jones (38) on charges of attempted abortion, assault, reckless endangerment, forgery of a medical prescription, possession of a forged instrument and criminal impersonation. Heh, I think that should just about cover it.

Stupid, stupid, crazy assed bitch. She should have just beat the bloody pulp out of her husband Anthony, then gone about her daily business raising their four children with a gimped up spouse. Instead, she’s hopefully going to be spending a very long time getting to know Unique, Monique’s pissed off sisters behind the prison’s bars and maybe, just maybe, Anthony will bring home that new baby boy to meet his siblings. That is if the baby is even his. Something else Kisha forgot to find out for sure.

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Thermo Monitoring

The importance of maintaining the temperature of the premature baby has been well documented over the years, however the temperature can vary through out the body. The so called core temperature is not constant through out the entire body.

The body will attempt to maintain its temperature within narrow limits and, if exposed to thermal stresses, will utilise energy to achieve temperature stability.  If a baby is exposed to cold stress, the extremities of the body will cool before more central temperatures drop. By measuring both areas of the body the difference will indicate whether the baby is suffering thermal stress long before any difference would be seen in the central temperature of the body.

Thermal stress has been associated with an increase in mortality, making early detection of this problem an important part of the monitoring of premature and sick babies.

Temperature Monitoring involves a continuous display of the central and external temperatures, as well as the air temperature and humidity inside the babies’ incubator.

Although a baby may be exposed to excessive heat, the more common clinical problem, particularly in premature babies, is cold stress due to heat loss.

Babies lose heat during birth, resuscitation and transportation to the neonatal unit as well as during handling. Cold stress has been associated with serious illness and an increase in mortality

What happens if a baby is too cold?

Cold Stress:

• Exacerbates lung problems and increases the need for ventilation

• Results in poor growth and increases length of time in hospital

• Increases the risk of serious illness and possible fatality

Cold Stress – early effects

Cold stress occurs when heat loss is such that the baby has to call up thermoregulatory mechanisms to increase heat production or to prevent heat loss.

These mechanisms will allow the baby to maintain central temperatures, but only at a large metabolic cost. If we do not act until we see the central temperature falling we will have exposed the baby to a critical period of metabolic stress, which may have detrimental effects.

It is standard practice to measure the temperature of a baby undergoing intensive care. Usually only a single temperature is measured, often at infrequent intervals. This practice will not detect the early changes of cold stress, as the baby will initially use energy to maintain its central temperature.

An early response to cold stress is vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels) to reduce heat loss from the peripheries. As adults we know that our hands and feet are first to feel cold as the body reduces blood flow to the peripheries in response to cold exposure.  By measuring both central and extremities temperatures it is possible to obtain more detailed information on the thermal state of the baby.

The response of a baby to a procedure during which the incubator was opened for a brief period may result soon after the start of the procedure to the baby’s extremities temperature dropping but the central temperature will remain stable.

Measurement of a central and an extremities temperature and continuous display of the difference between them will give an early indication of developing cold stress.

An increase in the central extremities temperature differential occurs before the fall in core temperature. This is the principle of Thermo Monitoring.

Cold Stress – later effects

During the resulting effects of a prolonged handling, the central extremities temperature difference increases as the baby is exposed to a cold stress and the peripheries cool.   Eventually the baby can no longer compensate by activating thermoregulatory mechanisms and the central temperature drops.

If only a single temperature had been measured at infrequent intervals, this cold stress would not have been detected until the central temperature had decreased. The baby would have been exposed to a period of increased metabolic stress.

Image by maria mono via Flickr

Conclusion

If there is no single core temperature in the body, what can we measure to give us some idea of the central temperature. What we need to monitor is a temperature which is close to an “average” core temperature and which will show changes in the central temperature.

Rectal temperature:

Traditionally the rectum has been used as a measure of the core temperature.

However taking a rectal temperature is an invasive procedure, also the measurement is not always reliable as rectal temperature is dependent on the depth to which the probe is inserted.

Where can temperature be measured?

• Rectal temperature is also affected by the temperature of the blood returning from the lower limbs. If there is extremities vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels) and the baby is centralising its circulation, the cold blood returning from the legs will significantly lower the measured rectal temperature.

• From a practical point of view, it is impossible to keep a rectal probe in the same position for any length of time and therefore this is not a suitable site for continuous temperature monitoring.

Axilla and abdominal skin temperatures

The axilla and the abdomen (over the area of the liver) are alternative sites commonly used to represent central temperature. In the newborn baby these sites, although on the skin, do not appear to react to lower temperatures with vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels). This means that, although the temperature measurements in the axilla or on the abdomen are slightly lower than the true central temperature, they will change in the same way as the central temperature.

Monitoring the trends in the axilla or abdominal skin measurements will therefore give information on the way the central temperature is changing. The axilla is a good site for a probe as it is not easily affected by changes in environmental temperature and the position of the probe does not interfere with X ray fields.

Zero heat flux temperature

If the baby is lying on a non conducting mattress, the skin adjacent to the mattress will be unable to lose heat and will therefore warm up to the temperature of the body’s core.  This is called the Zero Heat Flux Temperature.  With the baby on its back on a non conducting mattress, this temperature can be measured by a probe placed in the interscapular region.  It is important to use small flat probes that will not cause pressure damage to the baby’s delicate skin.

Extremities temperature

In the newborn baby the foot has been shown to respond to lower temperatures with vasoconstriction.

With Thermo Monitoring it is recommended that:

• There is continuous monitoring of a central temperature and a extremities temperature.

• Abdominal skin, axilla or interscapular probes are used to monitor central temperature.

• The sole of the foot is used to monitor extremities temperature.

• Both temperatures and the central extremities temperature difference can  be displayed as a continuous trend graph.  The continuous measurement of both a central and a extremities temperature is important in thermal monitoring of the newborn baby.  As there is no single central temperature it is difficult to give recommendations for this value.  The figure will also depend on the site from which the temperature readings are taken.  Most staff caring for babies feel that the central temperature measured from rectum, abdominal skin or axilla should be around 37°C.

In a study of 150 babies under 1500 grams birthweight, the median abdominal skin temperature was found to be 36.9°C with an interquartile range of 36.8 to 37.2°C.  Some babies however had an abdominal skin temperature significantly above 37.5°C .  In these babies any attempt to lower their temperature resulted in a widening of the central extremities temperature difference, suggesting increasing cold stress.  It would seem that some babies, in the first few days after birth, set their own central temperature to above 37°C.

The mean central extremities temperature difference increases over the first 5 days of life.  In babies less than 1000g birth weight the temperature difference increased from 0.5°C on day 1 to 1.0°C by day 3.  In heavier babies the temperature difference was between 1.0 and 1.3°C

Thermoregulation and the Baby

Within the “normo thermal” range the body is able to cope with the environmental temperature by increasing energy expenditure.  Below a certain environmental temperature the central temperature drops; hypothermia then results. Likewise an adult starts sweating to cool the body when the environmental temperature is too warm.  At high environmental temperatures the body can initially compensate by using energy for heat loss but at a certain point these mechanisms fail resulting in hyperthermia.

Within this “normo-thermal” range there is a point at which the body is using a minimum of energy for thermoregulation. This is the “thermo-neutral” range and corresponds to the most comfortable environmental temperature for the body.  The mature baby at birth has a smaller “normo-thermal” range than the adult but this rapidly matures.  In premature babies and low birthweight babies both the “normo-thermal” and “thermo-neutral” ranges are very narrow.

Premature Baby

In fact, the premature baby is not provided with mechanisms like sweating and shivering and its metabolism is limited as well. The only response to cold stress is vasoconstriction, which is seen with Thermo Monitoring.

Therefore, it should be the target of nursing care to keep the baby in its “thermo neutral” range to provide the best conditions for growth and maturity.

Thermo Monitoring gives us the information, whether babies are in their “thermo neutral” range. Maintaining the optimum environmental conditions for the pre-term baby is therefore a challenge.

The feotus does not have a system for temperature regulation.  Before birth the baby is poikilothermic which means that it adapts to the temperature of the mother.  This means that the foetal central and extremities temperatures are the same and have a value determined by the central temperature of the mother.  What happens in the premature baby after delivery?  Just after birth the central and extremities temperatures depend directly on the environmental temperature but with time the baby activates its own system for the regulation of body temperature, changing from a poikilothermic to a homeothermic state.

As this occurs the “normo-thermal” and “thermoneutral” ranges both increase.  The more mature the baby, the quicker this change occurs but in some premature babies it can take several days.  This period of increased thermal instability with all its potential complications adds to the baby’s problems at a time when it is often already critically ill.

Once the baby has activated its own body temperature regulation systems it is more stable and able to cope better with changes in environmental conditions without any effect on central body temperature.

Resuscitation

All babies cool rapidly after birth because of heat loss from evaporation of amniotic fluid from the skin.  Drying and wrapping the premature baby prevents such heat loss.  The premature baby is at higher risk of significant cold stress, particularly if resuscitation is needed.  In premature babies low temperature on admission to the neonatal unit has been associated with increased mortality and morbidity.  Evaporation, the major source of heat loss  can be significantly reduced using occlusive dressings (material, usually gauze or absorbent cotton).

Clean plastic bags are easier to use and prevent hypothermia immediately after delivery.  The baby can be slid into the bag up to the neck whilst still wet.  The head is covered with a hat and no blankets are used, thus allowing radiant heat to warm the infant through the bag.  Clinical inspection and auscultation (The act of listening for sounds within the body, chiefly for ascertaining the condition of the lungs, heart, pleura, abdomen) during resuscitation can be done through the bag and if vascular access is needed a small hole can be cut in the plastic.

It is important to prevent heat loss during transport to the neonatal unit. The infant can be transported while still in the bag, which is only removed once the baby is in a humidified environment.

Types of Heat Loss

Radiation

Radiation is the transfer of heat from a warm to a cooler surface.  If you sit in front of an open fire the side of your body facing the fire becomes hot while your back becomes cold.  If the baby is surrounded by cooler surfaces there will be heat loss through thermal radiation.

To reduce heat loss through thermal radiation the  incubator has double walls with a stream of warm air between the surfaces.  This raises the temperature of the walls, thus reducing thermal radiation.

Conduction

Heat will be transferred from the baby to the mattress with which it is in contact.  If the mattress is a good heat conductor then heat will be lost from the baby.  In everyday life you become aware of the difference between heat gain from a warm foot bath compared with the heat loss from sitting on a cold stone.

Evaporation

Whenever liquid evaporates there will be heat loss because of the heat of evaporation.  This is the reason why we feel cold when we open the door after taking a hot shower.  The wet and thin skin of a premature baby can result in significant fluid and heat loss if evaporation is not prevented.  By using high ambient humidity in the incubator the loss of heat by evaporation is greatly reduced.

By considering all the methods that premature babies can lose substantial heat from within different regions of their bodies, also by implementing substantial and well monitored methods to reduce or eliminate those losses the chances of the infant succumbing to thermal stress are lowered significantly.  Thus lowering the risks of serious illness or mortality of the baby at their most vulnerable time, when they are unable to self regulate their body temperature in the manner that adults are able. Full term babies have more resilience to heat loss than their premature counterparts.

For premature baby clothes suitable for babies from 1 lb please visit  prem2pram

may Allah bless my little pixie!!!

we went to the hospital this morning for Fateha’s hearing test, for the second time. the first was done about 8 months ago and although the results were normal, the doctor there wasn’t too confident. she said preemie babies may have problems occur later. so we were reviewed today!

the ENT clinic looked cool with all the xmas decorations and murals on the walls. it so reminded me of my classroom. while we were there, a female staff was bending over, cutting and pasting and outlining the murals. i felt like going up to her to help haha.

waiting time was the crappiest. waiting for the doctor to prescribe the medication to sedate Fateha, that is. the nurses and other staff were ok, just the doctor. grr! i shall not nag elaborate on the tardiness of the doctor, attending to us for less than a minute after waiting for him almost an hour. WHY??

she didn’t take the sedation well. we struggled cos she wouldn’t cooperate while we fed her the bitterness. she tried to throw up on us and regurgitate the meds but of course she couldn’t get it done. HAHA. she got slightly groggy and we stocked her up with milk and off she went to the lala land that easy.

we went into the audiology procedure room and the doctor patted the bed that Fateha had to lie on. we were told to wait outside for about 1 hour while she ran the tests from Fateha’s brain stem. hubby and i took the golden opportunity to be together and had our brunch at the cafeteria.

we came back just in time for the doctor to call us in. Fateha was waking up and still looking drowsy. and for the results:

NORMAL

we didn’t have to come back for a review so there won’t be any third round of tests this time, unless we want to. which of course, we didn’t want HAHA. we’re crossing our fingers that her hearing will be normal for the rest of her life. looking at the hearing aid price list was like digging my own grave. never mind!

we felt very blessed for Fateha’s achievement. one problem down!

but many more to go.

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

Our fourteenth profile is of twins Olivia Paige and Logan William.

Olivia and Logan were born on August 27th 2007 at only 23 weeks 1 day.

Mom Jodi said that the doctors best guess about why she gave birth so early was because of an incompetent cervix (A condition in which the cervix opens prematurely without contractions.)

At birth Olivia weighed 1lb 1.5oz and Logan was 1lb 1.75oz. Olivia’s NICU stay was as smooth as it could possibly be for a 23 weeker. She had no brain bleeds, no ROP surgery (Retinopathy of Prematurity) as she only got a stage two. She had no issues with bowels, intestines or brain damage. Mom said it was just a miracle.

Logan, however, did not get to go home to his family. He passed away after 1 month, 1 day. Jodi says that people don’t realize how the death of your child will affect you for the rest of your life.

It was tough to plan my child’s funeral, while still not knowing if I would get to take my other child home.

Logan had a grade 2 brain bleed, but no sign of PVL (damage to the white matter of the brain near the ventricles.) Doctors could never get his blood pressure stabilized and his kidneys had trouble functioning and he stopped urinating multiple times. In the end, his heart gave out and after resuscitating him multiple times, multiple shots of epinephrine to the heart, he passed away.

After 105 days in the NICU, Olivia came home. As for lasting effects from her prematurity, Olivia’s skin is severely scarred because it was so underdeveloped at birth. She is about 6 months behind developmentally and has some sensory disorders. She has had one strabismus (eye muscle) surgery and will probably need another one. She wears glasses and has a lot of problems gaining weight. She is 2 years old and 20 lbs.

Jodi and her husband do not have any other children. They tried for 3 years to become pregnant.

We wanted our babies more than anything and I did nothing in my pregnancy that would cause prematurity. It can truly happen to anyone.

If Jodi had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: Take care of yourself. I was diagnosed with severe adrenal fatigue about a year later. It is such a stressful time that you run on adrenaline to get you through. Eventually, you can completely run out. Pumping breast milk is the one thing that I felt I could do for my babies when all other new mother experiences were taken away. I never got to hold Logan until after he passed away. I couldn’t hold Olivia until she was over a month old. Providing breast milk was something special I could do for her and Logan.

I asked Jodi to describe her children in one word and she said “MIRACLES.”

These two are definitely miracles in my eyes as well. If you would like to read more about this amazing family and follow their journey, you can go here to Olivia & Logan

Related Articles:

• Preemie Profile: 24 Week Twins Charlton & Savannah
• Preemie Profile: 25 Weeker Tyler
• Preemie Profile: 24 Week Twins Bryce and Chloe
  
• Preemie Profile: 29 Weeker Charlotte
  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/17/preemie-profile-24-week-twins-charlton-savannah/ Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:15:12 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/17/preemie-profile-24-week-twins-charlton-savannah/

  November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

  Our thirteenth profile is of an amazing set of twins named Charlton and Savannah.

  

  Charlton and Savannah were born at 24 weeks exactly on April 10^th 2008. Dad Charlton says that he and his wife do not know why their little ones were born early.

  This story was written by his wife for the March of Dimes.

  When my husband and I found out that we were expecting twins, we were so excited. We couldn’t wait to share the good news with our friends and family.

  Most people who are expecting a child dream of what their pregnancy and birth are going to be like. Some, including me, have dreamed about their first days of life and who they are going to look like, what type of personality they are going to have and if they are going to sleep through the night.

  I can’t think of one person, including me, who dreamed about their child or children in my case being born premature.

  At just six months into my pregnancy (4 months before my due date) I learned at a routine ultrasound that my life was going to change forever. During the scan the technician was telling me how good the babies looked, but she then stopped and politely excused herself. She then came back with the doctor. The doctor then told me that I was 3 cm dilated and in labor. I called my husband to let him know what was going on, but was too upset to even speak. The doctor then got on the phone to fill him in. They transported me across the street to Morristown Memorial Hospital. Once I arrived at the hospital about 10 minutes later, my little girl’s water broke.

  Once my husband arrived at the hospital we were met by the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) doctor. He basically said that if our children survived the delivery they may have some serious handicaps as a result of their prematurity.

  The hospital tried to stop the labor, but just after mid-night we headed to the Operating Room. There were about 20 people in the room, not quite the peaceful birth I had dreamed about so many times. There were teams of doctors and nurses ready to work on each of the babies.

  The decision was made to deliver Savannah since her water broke. The doctor wanted to try and keep Charlton inside for as long as possible.

  Savannah had a very rocky delivery. When she was born the silence in the room was very eerie, you could hear a pin drop. I remember lying there and looking over my shoulder to see her. But all I could see was a team of doctors and nurses working on her. She never made a sound. She weighed in at only 1 lb. 8 ounces.

  In the midst of all of this, my doctor was reporting that Charlton needed to be delivered because both my blood pressure and his blood pressure were dropping. About 45 minutes later Charlton Jr. arrived via C-Section. When he was born I did hear a faint little cry. It wasn’t long before his team of doctors and nurses began working on him as well. He was smaller, weighing in at 1 lb. 6 ounces.

  I was then moved to recovery. About an hour later and no updates, we were then escorted to the NICU to see our children for the first time. I had no idea and could not even imagine what a baby born at 24 weeks would look like.

  The NICU was very dark and depressing. They wheeled my stretcher into a little room where there were a bunch of people huddled over two little isolates. Most new moms would be overjoyed to meet their little bundles of joy. In our case it was devastating to see two little babies who were so sick and hooked up to so much equipment. They were about the size of my hand and just slightly longer than a ball point pen. Their heads were smaller than a tennis ball and their skin was completely transparent. Their eyes were fused shut and their little ears were still not completely developed and Savannah was purple from being so badly bruised during delivery. It was probably one of the saddest days that I can remember.

  The best way to explain life in the NICU is a roller coaster ride. We soon found out how that roller coaster worked. For the first few days they were doing ok. We then got a call about Charlton. His intestines perforated and had become septic. He needed life saving surgery. My husband and I rushed to the hospital, that hour and a half ride from PA to NJ seemed like a lifetime. We sat there waiting to hear how the surgery went. Thankfully it was a success. We then decided to head home to get some very much needed rest. Not even 24 hours later we got another phone call saying that our daughter needed the same life saving surgery. We then rushed back to the hospital. Thankfully her surgery went well too. Days after surgery, Savannah developed a really bad infection.

  The worst day that comes to mind, which was about a week after the birth was when we arrived at the hospital and were escorted to a room to meet with some doctors, nurses and the social worker. We were then informed that our little girl had a severe bleed in her brain. A bilateral bleed of grade three and four. A level four is the worst. They told us if she survived she probably would have a limited quality of life. They also mentioned that both babies only had a 16% chance of survival.

  My husband and I sat outside the hospital that day in the Gazebo, just devastated, we cried and we prayed for strength. We then decided to have our babies baptized that same day.

  In the upcoming days we had some good and many bad. Our son had a difficult time with his lungs. His lungs kept collapsing.

  Our daughter also had a host of issues and couldn’t breathe on her own for about four months.

  It was about a month and a half before we could hold our babies, even then they would stop breathing while we were holding them. It was quite terrifying. The list of medical procedures, blood transfusions, infections and issues are endless. They spent about 4 ½ months in the NICU before they were allowed to come home.

  Prematurity does not end in the NICU – Our twins are now 17 months old and still need a lot of follow up care. We have physical therapist, occupational therapist , speech therapist and even teachers at our house weekly. We also have a range of specialists that follow our babies. They include, Pulmonary, Neurology, Ophthalmology, ENT, Gastro, Developmental, Orthopedic as well as their pediatrician.

  Over all, they are doing far better than what anyone could ever imagine for a 24 week baby, especially for twins. We won’t know the true effects of their prematurity until they are 3-4 years old. They are at high risk for Autism and Cerebral Palsy and well as learning delays.

  Even though it seems like our life is very difficult, which it can be at times, we feel very blessed and thankful for our miracle babies. The March of Dimes has been instrumental in the research and development that gives children like mine the chance at life. Just to give you one example, both of our children received Surfactant Therapy, which helps aid the lungs. I don’t know that are twins would be here today without that therapy. And to that, we are extremely grateful.

  Dad says that although Charlton and Savannah are delayed, they are both eating well and walking. They have a big sister named Ashley who was born full term.

  If Charlton had one piece of advice for a new preemie parent, it would be: Hang on, things will get better.

  I asked Charlton to describe his children in one word and he said “MIRACLES.”

  I don’t think any of us can argue with that!

  If you would like to read more about these two amazing children, you can go here to OUR MIRACLE BABIES

  Other Amazing Preemies:

  • Preemie Profile: 25 Weeker Tyler
  • Preemie Profile: 24 Week Twins Bryce and Chloe
    
  • Preemie Profile: 29 Weeker Charlotte
    
  • Preemie Profile: 26 Weeker Emery

  ---

  ]]> http://enjoybirth.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/fight-for-preemies-the-choices-you-make-can-help/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:02:45 +0000 enjoybirth http://enjoybirth.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/fight-for-preemies-the-choices-you-make-can-help/

  I had a preemie.

  It was life changing.  It was scary.  It was not the ideal start for my sons life.

  I had been on bedrest for Preterm Labor from 25 weeks.  I figure I bought him 9 extra weeks, with the sacrifice of staying in bed, taking different pills and praying.

  Devon was born at 34 weeks.  He was 4 pounds 3 ounces.

  He only had to stay in the NICU for 12 days.

  It felt so much longer.   But in comparison to what some preemies go through it was very little.

  What can you do to help prevent prematurity?

  • Take care of yourself.
  • Eat well.
  • Get prenatal care.
  • Drink a lot of water.
  • Pay attention to your body and baby.
  • If you have more than 4 Braxton Hicks and hour, call your care provider.
  • If baby’s movements decrease dramatically, call your care provider.
  • TRUST your intuition!  If you feel something is wrong, insist you be seen!  (My friend pregnant with twins, suspected something was up at 25 weeks.  The OB blew her off, so finally she lied and said she had some bleeding.     So they had her come in and found she was 4cm dilated and they had her on bedrest in the hospital, where she was able to go a few more weeks.
  • Do NOT get induced before 40 weeks (unless mom or baby is at risk)  So many babies that are preemies in the last few years were INDUCED!  Due dates are just guesstimates.  They can be off a few weeks.  So if a mom gets induced at 37 weeks, she may have a 34 week gestation baby.

  

  ]]> http://prem2pram.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/a-toddler%e2%80%99s-dictionary-in-support-of-bliss/ Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:24:00 +0000 prem2pram http://prem2pram.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/a-toddler%e2%80%99s-dictionary-in-support-of-bliss/

  Video by Emmi

  

  The Toddler’s Dictionary is a great booklet in support of  Bliss – the charity for premature babies. It makes a perfect stocking filler for Christmas and is packed with hundreds of tots’ words (including translations) An amazing stocking present! A booklet that not only includes pages of great examples of toddler speak but it also prompts you to record your own.

  From Abulab to ZibZib this is an A-Z of toddler words along with the adult translations. Selling at just £1.99 plus postage and packaging this makes an ideal stocking filler.

  50% of the cover price is donated to Bliss the charity for babies born too soon, too small and too sick.  Click here to purchase your copy.

  

  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/14/preemie-profile-29-weeker-charlotte/ Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:04:28 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/14/preemie-profile-29-weeker-charlotte/

  November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

  Our tenth profile is of a sweet little girl named Charlotte. This family and story is very near and dear to my heart.

  

  Charlotte was born on April 7th 2007 at 29 weeks and 5 days. The immediate reason for Charlotte’s premature birth was fetal distress. Her heartrate was dropping down to thirty beats per minute. There was no known reason for why this was happening. Mom Kelley also said she had low amniotic fluid and Charlotte was severe IUGR (IntraUterine Growth Retardation.)

  At birth Charlotte weighed only 474 grams. As for the NICU stay, Initially mom and dad (Kelley and Vann) were hoping to only remain until she no longer needed oxygen. Charlotte was never on the vent or bipap, just nasal cannula. She had reached a weight of at least pounds pounds, however it quickly became clear that an extended hospital stay would be required. Oxygen as a long term requirement was obviously needed for her as she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, reflux, chronic lung disease, heart defects (atrial septal defects and ventrical septal defects–tiny holes) and she refused to eat by mouth. Charlotte was later also diagnosed with dysphagia–a swallow dysfunction preventing her from eating by mouth because of aspirating the fluid into her lungs.

  During her NICU stay she endured 20+ blood transfusions, an arsenal of tests, surgical procedures including a gastrostomy tube placement (surgically placed through an opening from the abdomen to the stomach) and a heart catheterization (doctor threads a catheter-thin flexible tube from an artery or vein in the neck, arm or thigh into the heart arteries or inside the heart.) Charlotte received daily sticks and pokes, more medications than mom can almost remember including an overdose of potassium at one hospital that sent her into cardiac arrest.

  Charlotte had fluctuating electrolyte and mineral levels, multiple feeding issues, and reflux that we could not really control causing daily gagging/retching/choking. She also had issues with desaturations (A drop in oxygen levels due to apnea, obstruction or other medical conditions) daily.

  The Lord was merciful to us and answered so many of our prayers for Charlotte. She never had any brain bleeds, all her cranial ultrasounds were normal, her eyes were developing appropriately as far as we knew despite long term oxygen therapy, she passed her hearing screening, and a spot on her kidney (which the doctors were watching very closely due to the high increase of kidney problems in two vessel cord babies & an elevated kidney hormone) completely disappeared! What a miracle! We always felt optimistic and overjoyed at each new milestone no matter at what age she achieved it.

  After spending six and a half months at three different NICUs in the Atlanta area, Charlotte came home. Charlotte was on oxygen, was being fed with a feeding tube, and hooked up to the standard monitors for preemies (heart and oxygen saturation rates). She was on more than half a dozen meds. Charlotte still struggled with all the issues mentioned above and Kelley and Vann were led to believe that there was a chance that she would eventually outgrow and overcome the need for all her equipment-the oxygen, the feeding tube, as well as her reflux and heart defects.

  Surgery was always on the radar for her heart if the holes did not close up as she grew. At nearly 7 months when she came home for the first and only time, she weighed in at just over 8 1/2 pounds. Charlotte was considered very medically fragile because of her lungs and heart and we were well aware that any respiratory illness could very well take her life. She was followed by a cardiologist, a pulmonologist, a gastrointerologist, and pediatrician. Despite all this, we were confident that–with time–she would have a full and enjoyable life and be able to do so many of the things that other children could do.

  What mom and dad were not aware of (and uneducated about at the time) was the fact that her aspiration issues should have been addressed before coming home due to her reflux. Everything she was refluxing had the potential to be aspirated into her lungs.

  After a mere six weeks at home, Charlotte developed an aspiration pneumonia that landed her back in the local Children’s hospital they had just left. A viral infection on top of this put her in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). Her premature body had difficulty fighting things off and after one week in the hospital she suddenly became much worse. Her lungs with all of the damage were unable to sustain oxygen levels. This was even with the maximum amount of support available in the medical field. After four long weeks of fighting, being on the ventilator and oscillator, dealing with the infections and treatments and multiple resuscitations, sweet Charlotte went home to heaven. It was January 14th 2008 and she was 9 months and 7 days old.

  Kelley and Vann lost another baby girl at only 12 weeks 2 days due to a possible infection. They were however recently blessed with the birth of their son Owen who was born at 36 weeks after preterm labor.

  If Kelley had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom, it would be this: Educate yourself on your child’s issues. You are the best advocate for your child. Look for support from others–online groups or local support groups. Parents of preemies encounter problems that most parents never even hear about. It can be a lonely road and you need people around you who understand the unique issues surrounding preemies and the equally as unique set of emotions that comes with having one and caring for one.

  I asked Kelley to describe Charlotte in one word and she said “FIGHTER.”

  There is no doubt in my mind that Kelley is right in describing Charlotte. This story has always been a part of my heart and Kelley and Vann are just amazing parents who deserve nothing but the best in the future. Charlotte was so very loved and is missed tremendously by so many.

  If you would like to read more about Charlotte and her journey you can go here to Charlotte Humphrey

  ---

  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/13/preemie-profile-25-weeker-maggie-grace/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:07:22 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/13/preemie-profile-25-weeker-maggie-grace/

  November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

  Our ninth profile is of a little beauty named Margaret “Maggie” Grace.

  

  Maggie was born on August 25th 2005 at 25 weeks 2 days. Mom Dana had extremely low amniotic fluid. Maggie was also an IUGR (IntraUterine Growth Retardation) baby. Dana had developed severe pre-eclampsia (a condition characterized by pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, protein in the urine, and swelling (edema) due to fluid retention), which turned to HELLP syndrome (a complication of severe preeclampsia).

  Maggie at birth weighed only 15 ounces which is about 425 grams. She was in three NICU’s. The first one she was in for two days, the second one for a week and then the last one for four and a half months. Maggie was born right before Hurricane Katrina and was evacuated from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Mom and dad did not see her for a week as they were in one hospital and she was in another.

  Overall it was a rough four and a half months. Maggie was on and off of the vent and had many infections through her stay and almost didn’t make it several times. There were many nights spent sleeping in the NICU waiting room praying that no one would come tell mom and dad any bad news.
  
  

  While there we met many people in the same situation. One was a family who lost their preemie four months after she was born. That was hard as Maggie was in the isolette right next to her and when Maggie had ups this little one had downs and vice versa.

  Maggie had a fundoplication (a surgical operation for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in which the upper part of the stomach is wrapped around the lower esophagus) done along with a gastrostomy (A method to facilitate feeding in which a tube is surgically placed directly into the stomach, through the abdominal wall) while in the NICU. Maggie did nipple feed for a while but it was not going great and she suffered from aspiration (milk entering into the lungs) and the doctors felt this was the best option for her at the time. We had some of the best doctors and nurses we could ask for while in the NICU, who made the whole ordeal easier for us.

  Mom and dad had clothes and blankets for Maggie made by volunteers and she always had decorations in her corner and on her isolette for every occasion. Mom and dad wanted to make it as close to home as they could. They found out after a month that by playing music-Disney Princess instrumentals in fact-from a CD player, it would calm her down and help her oxygen saturations.

  All in all Maggies stay was a roller coaster. Ride up and down with the twists and turns. Thankfully this little fighter made it home safe and sound! The technology they have today is amazing and just miraculous in moms opinion!

  As for lasting effects from her prematurity, Maggie is little but that is basically all. She had her feeding tube removed in May of 2009 and now eats by mouth. She has great vision and hearing and no other delays except for needing some speech therapy in school as she can not say some letters that well. Mom feels very blessed.

  If Dana had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom, it would be this: Have Faith. Do what feels right to you and know that these babies are some of the strongest fighters ever!

  I asked Dana to describe Maggie in one word and she said “AMAZING.”

  What an ordeal with the NICUs! She sure is an amazing child!

  ---

  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/10/preemie-profile-26-weeker-emery/ Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:37:02 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/10/preemie-profile-26-weeker-emery/

  November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

  Our eighth profile is of a gorgeous little guy named Emery.

  

  Emery was born on December 18th 2006 at 26 weeks. Mom Sarah had severe early onset pre-eclampsia. (A condition characterized by pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, protein in the urine, and swelling (edema) due to fluid retention.) His growth had stunted because he was not receiving any nutrients through the placenta.

  At birth Emery weighed a mere 597 grams. Upon birth, his lungs were very stiff and could not take a single breath. He received surfactant* and was put on a ventilator to help him breathe. He stayed on the ventilator for 4 months (this is a tad long for a preemie who would generally average 4 to 8 weeks on a ventilator.)

  In his early days Emery had a PDA (patent ductus arteriosus), which meant his already underdeveloped lungs were being deprived of oxygen but being filled with blood instead. He received multiple doses of a drug called indamethicin to close it and it closed after a few weeks. He actually was put on the surgical schedule to have it closed 3 times, and each time before the surgery the surgeon would order a round of the medication only to have the PDA close the day of surgery. It would open with 24 hours and this whole process would start again.

  Emery had 30+ blood transfusions and also had pneumonia. He got heel sticks 4 times a day while on the vent. Multiply that by 120 days – his poor heels were in shreds and to this day he has little feeling in them.

  He received four courses of dexamethasone (a corticosteroid drug used to treat inflammation) to help him off the vent. He did finally come off the vent to CPAP, where he stayed for just shy of 3 months. During this time he had an episode of crying, dropped heart rate (bradycardia) and unusually high respirations (around 120 per minute) that scared one of the nurses. As luck would have it, his ARNP (nurse practitioner) worked in the PICU before she came to the NICU and ordered a renal scan on a whim, and it turned out she was right. Emery had an extremely large kidney stone in his ureter. This is extremely odd for a baby. In fact, it happens in roughly 1:1 million babies mom was told by his neprhologist. Yes, he’s one in a million. The stone was so large that an adult couldn’t have passed it, but no one had ever done a kidney stone removal in a baby before (he weighed around 9 pounds at the time) so he had a reconstructive urological surgeon do the procedure. It took about 5 hours. The docs were pretty nervous about it because of his extensive lung problems and the fact that he would need to be re-vented after it took so long to get him off the vent, but Emery handled it very well. He still has many kidney stones that are in the kidneys and has hypertension because of it. He is monitored every 3 to 6 months and has been stable since.

  Emery finally got to a point where he was stable from a respiratory standpoint but couldn’t eat so it was decided to put a G-tube in. Mom had the option of him staying in the hospital a while longer (but at this point it was close to 8 months) or sending him home with a nasogastric tube to work on eating a while longer. Mom didn’t want to put him through any more trauma so she chose the G-tube. It was the best decision for him.

  Emery was in the NICU for a total of 225 days before coming home. Today, he’s nearly 3 years old and still has lingering effects of his prematurity. He’s developmentally disabled (which in layman’s terms would mean he’s borderline autistic/mentally retarded.) Those things cannot be diagnosed until he’s much older so he’s simply being monitored for it and treated with multiple therapies. Emery is considered PDD or pervasive developmental disorder. Physically mom says he does very well and can even walk up to two miles independently.

  Emery still has a G-tube and hates to eat. He has a severe feeding disorder and oral aversion. The months of being ventilated damaged his throat and he does not like the sensation of swallowing. He is also a chronic vomiter due to reflux and still vomits every day. His parents have to check his blood sugars fairly regularly as well. He has an issue where if his blood sugar gets too low he’s incapable of keeping anything down and needs intravenous nutrition.

  Emery does also wear oxygen still although this is not full time. He is respiratory compromised because of his BPD (bronchopulmonary dysplasia.)

  Every day he makes progress though, in many areas. For him, only time will tell what’s in store for him, but he is pretty resilient and faces challenges with a smile.

  If Sarah had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: To cherish each moment you have and not wish for it to be different, no matter how hard it sounds. No matter how hard it seems, you can bond with your premature baby.

  I asked Sarah to describe Emery in one word and she said “CHARASMATIC.”

  If you would like to read more about Emery and follow his life journey, you can go here to Littlemanbig: A Micropreemie Adventure

  *A complex substance containing phospholipids and proteins. This surfactant acts like a detergent on the inner surface of the alveoli (air cells in the lungs), reducing the incidence of collapse. However, low surfactant can lead to lung collapse and atelectasis (inability of lungs to expand). Prolonged hypoxia and hypercapnia (increased amount of carbon dioxide in the blood due to decreased lung function and vasospasm) leads to acidosis.*

  ---

  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/09/worlds-smallest-mother-set-to-welcome-third-baby/ Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:19:13 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/09/worlds-smallest-mother-set-to-welcome-third-baby/

  Despite warnings she is risking her life, Stacey Herald, the world’s smallest mother, is set to welcome her third baby.

  Measuring just 2ft 4ins, Mrs. Herald has already defied doctors orders and gone on to deliver to have two healthy baby girls.

  The 35-year-old from Dry Ridge, Kentucky, USA, suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which causes brittle bones and underdeveloped lungs, and means she failed to grow.

  Now the determined mom, who uses a wheelchair, and her husband Will, who is 5ft 9ins, are awaiting the birth of their third child, due in the next four weeks.

  Even thought she cannot hold her daughter because her belly gets in the way, and she admits being pregnant is “uncomfortable”, the couple says they want more children.

  By the time the new addition, a boy, is one he will already tower over his mum.

  Stacey and her husband met in 2000 while working for a supermarket in their home town and were desperate for a family after marrying in 2004.

  But doctors warned them that a baby would grow so large inside her tiny body it would eventually crush her organs.

  “It broke my heart that I couldn’t have kids,” she said.

  “All my life my parents had told me that I could do anything. Then there were these doctors telling me that we couldn’t be a complete family. It really hurt.”

  Eight months after their marriage, the couple was thrilled to discover they were expecting and decided to go ahead even though family and doctors begged them to reconsider.

  After 28 weeks, doctors performed a cesarean section and daughter Kateri was born, weighing just 2lbs and 1oz in 2006.

  She grew well but there was heartbreak for the family when they discovered Kateri had inherited Mrs Herald’s condition and would also never grow to a normal height.
  Doctors tried to let the second baby stay in Mrs Herald’s body for as long as possible, letting her pregnancy go to 34 weeks before taking her into theatre.

  Daughter Makaya who, at 18 inches was more than half her mum’s body length when she was born, weighed 4lbs and 7oz.

  Now both girls are bigger than their mother, who is now 30 weeks pregnant with her first boy.

  She said: “It’s getting tougher and tougher to move.

  “At the moment because I’m getting really big again I can’t hold my youngest daughter because my belly gets in the way and I can’t get my arms around her.”

  Mrs Herald added: “All my babies are miracles, but we haven’t thought about if we’re going to have some more, as they’re a real handful right now.

  “We didn’t plan to have more than two kids, we just think that they’re a great gift to the world, and when I look at them I see Will and I feel so full of love, it’s tough not to want more.”

  I hope that after the baby arrives, this couple just enjoys the three miracles they have. It would be foolish for them to keep testing the laws of nature.

  Related Articles:
  

  • Father Fights Mother Over Baby’s Right To Live
    
  • Memory Loss Causes Mom To Forget Her Baby Every Couple Days
    
  • Baby Brings Mom Out Of Coma

  SOURCE

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  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/09/preemie-profile-25-weeker-elizabeth-ann/ Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:01:10 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/09/preemie-profile-25-weeker-elizabeth-ann/

  November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

  Our sixth profile is of a beautiful little girl named Elizabeth.

  

  Elizabeth was born on December 17th 2004 at 25 weeks and 3 days. Mom Angela does not know why Elizabeth entered this world to soon, as most of us never find out. Angela said she was working night shift as a Registered Nurse and after assisting with lifting a patient she started bleeding. She did have early Braxton Hicks and back pain and these symptoms were brought to my OB’s attention but he was not concerned.

  When Elizabeth was born she weighed 730 grams. Her NICU stay was rocky in the beginning. Elizabeth’s PDA (patent ductus arteriosus) did not close with the standard medication and the wait for surgical closure was long. It was awful because she was having great difficulty being ventilated and was becoming septic and running out of reserve.

  For a 25 weeker Elizabeth had a fairly standard NICU course. She suffered life threatening reflux and her heart rate would drop with each feed. She had extensive BPD (bronchopulmonary dysplasia) and was difficult to get off ventilator support. Once Elizabeth became more stable things became more routine as she grew. Angela would go up to the NICU everyday for the day. She would sing to her, read to her and when she was stable they would have kangaroo time where she was tucked in my shirt skin to skin.

  “I savoured every second cuddling with her”

  In the evening her Dad would come and bath her and get her ready for bed.
  

  “We were very blessed to be in an amazing NICU and I feel very strongly that without the dedicated knowledgeable staff Elizabeth would not have done as well as she has”.

  After three and a half months, Elizabeth was able to go home. The most difficult time was 1-2 weeks before she came home because mom and dad so desperately wanted her to be home with them.

  Elizabeth is definitely not unscathed by her prematurity. She was diagnosed with a hearing impairment at 4 months old and her reflux continued at home limiting her intake. She vomited constantly and this caused her to become aversive to eating. Elizabeth was on oxygen for a while at home due to her BPD and now continues to be prone to pneumonia and respiratory illnesses.

  Elizabeth has Cerebral Palsy (an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious conditions, caused by brain damage before birth or during infancy, characterized by impairment of muscular coordination.) She can walk independently but despite aggressive physiotherapy her gross motor skills are in the 17 month range. Her CP also affects her speech and fine motor skills. Elizabeth is an extremely smart little girl but issues with attention and learning are becoming more apparent as she is being challenged academically.

  Elizabeth is an only child. Angela says they have put off having another child until Elizabeth is more independent. Currently Elizabeth sees many medical specialists and therapists to help her succeed and develop. Having another child at the present would take away from the time that Elizabeth needs from her parents. They are also trying to prepare that if they did have another preemie they would be able to devote as much attention to him/her as they have done for Elizabeth.

  If Angela had some advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: PLAY with your child. Things can be very overwhelming with so many professionals telling how you should teach, hold and talk to your baby, you spend so much time stimulating your child and fretting that you haven’t done enough that you begin to doubt your ability to parent. Structured playtime is as just as important as teaching your child to sit and crawl and it is a great time to relax and have fun together.

  I asked Angela to describe Elizabeth in one word and she said “DETERMINED.”

  Angela is a personal friend of mine, and I can definitely agree that Elizabeth is a determined young girl. She is bright, beautiful and an inspiration!

  If you would like to read more about Elizabeth you can go here to ELIZABETH ANN

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  ]]> http://prem2pram.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/premature-babies-age-corrected-chronological/ Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:42:02 +0000 prem2pram http://prem2pram.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/premature-babies-age-corrected-chronological/

  Premature babies have two ages

  Getting your baby’s age right is simple. Right?

  Normally yes, however when working with babies born prematurely even professionals sometimes get it.

  Normally you just count the number of months, weeks and days from your baby’s date of birth to determine his or her age. However the age of premature baby is work out a little differently.

  

  Image via Wikipedia

  In fact, premature babies have two ages…

  1. Chronological or Calendar age and
  2. Corrected age

  Your baby’s calendar age

  Calendar age is your child’s age calculated on his date of birth. As far as everyone is concerned, your baby only has this one age. That is the age that goes onto every imaginable form and paperwork during his or her lifetime.

  But before we go to the second age, let’s first look at what qualifies as a premature baby.

  What is a premature baby?

  Full term pregnancy is accepted to be 40 weeks from the mother’s last menstrual period. So, all babies have a normal 40-week development period before birth.

  And any baby born before 37 full development weeks is seen as a premature baby.

  What this simply means is that if two babies are born on the same day, but did not have the same development period in the womb, their developments would not be the same. In fact, not even closely similar.

  Say baby Clint was a full term 40-week baby, where as baby Sky was born at 35 weeks. Both of them were born on 28th January. Now, on 28th June both of them are 6 months old. Clint is sitting unaided, but Sky shows no signs of sitting whatsoever.

  It is important to realise that Sky was actually born 5 weeks ahead of schedule. Sky should have been born around the 4^th March. So on 28th January Sky started off with a stumbling block… she did not have the full period to fully develop in the womb.

  Because of this shorter development period, Sky is slightly smaller than Clint. A further impediment for a premature baby like Sky is that she initially grows and develops at a slower rate than Clint.

  At this stage you will agree that as long as you keep comparing Sky and Clint’s development, Sky will in all likelihood always be behind… at least for the first two years.

  Calculating the second age

  One way of realistically determining how well Sky is developing is to use Corrected Age (CA). Quite often this is also known as Gestationally Corrected Age (GCA) or sometimes just Gestational Age (GA).

  All these terms are based on the age the premature baby would be if the pregnancy had been 40 weeks. It is a calculated age to compensate for a premature baby’s shorter development period in the womb.

  CA (weeks or months) = calendar age (weeks or months) – period prematurely born (weeks or months)

  If we now look at Sky, her corrected age on 28th June is 6 months (on 28th June) minus 1.15 months (born 5 weeks prematurely) = 4.85 months

  (This is based on 52 weeks per year, which is an average of 4^1/3 weeks per calendar month.  As we are aware some months have more days than others and so using the average is a close approximation that is accurate enough for the purposes of this calculation and the single day of a year or two in the case of a leap year are removed from the calculations altogether)

  52 weeks = 364 days! = 12 months

  One month = 52/12 weeks = 4^1/3 weeks

  Therefore 5 weeks = 5¸4^1/3 months = 1.15 months (to two decimal places)

  Using Sky’s CA immediately means that you don’t expect Sky to do the same things that Clint can already do. The fact that Sky is not sitting on 28th June is therefore not yet a concern.

  One warning about using CA

  It only works for babies born before 37 weeks. It does not apply to babies born close to the 40-week full term development period.

  For premature baby clothes and personalised baby gifts please visit  prem2pram
  

  
  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/06/preemie-profile-25-weeker-brianna-rose/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:16:59 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/06/preemie-profile-25-weeker-brianna-rose/

  November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

  Our fifth profile is of a sweet little girl named Brianna Rose.

  

  Brianna was born on February 12th 2009 at 25 weeks and 1 day. Mom Melissa had severe preeclampsia that was rapidly progressing to HELLP syndrome. (Pre-eclampsia is a condition characterized by pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, protein in the urine, and swelling (edema) due to fluid retention. HELLP syndrome is a complication of severe preeclampsia.) It was a very scary situation and mom and dad were terrified that they would lose baby Brianna.

  When Brianna was born she weighed only 586 grams. Brianna was always a fighter. Every nurse who worked with her described her as “feisty” and they believed that her feistiness helped keep her going strong.

  During her NICU stay Brianna overcame numerous obstacles. She had PDA(Patent Ductus Arteriosus) ligation at 12 days, multiple blood transfusions, sepsis, infections, anemia, reflux, RDS (respiratory distress syndrome), BPD (brochopulmonary dysplasia) and ROP (Retinopathy of prematurity) stage 3, at its worst-which is now resolved.

  Brianna seldom had bradycardia (low heart rate) but had a really difficult time keeping her oxygen sats up(apnea of prematurity). This was the last obstacle that Brianna had to overcome as she could not even pass the car seat test because her oxygen levels kept dropping. The doctors then decided to put her on caffeine which helped resolved her oxygen issues.

  After 117 days in the NICU Brianna was able to go home. As for any lasting effects from her prematurity, mom Melissa thinks it just may be too early to tell. Melissa says that Brianna was fortunate compared to a lot of the babies she has read about. She escaped her NICU experience seemingly unscathed. Brianna still has anemia, reflux and BPD. She takes vitamins, medications and inhalers for these conditions.
  Brianna is also on an apnea monitor at night but that is hopefully coming to an end later this month.

  Developmentally, she is coming along well. Brianna is functioning right where she should be based on her adjusted age. As for size, she is rather small. She does not suffer from any feeding disorders but can only tolerate three ounces of milk/formula at a time. She is just now starting to try spoon feeding and she has been able to do that once successfully so far. Overall she is a very healthy and happy little girl, and she is the most amazing and magnificent child Melissa could imagine!

  Melissa found the NICU experience very stressful. She says that you cannot truly understand that roller coaster ride unless you have been through it. They loved the hospital where they were and found the nurses very helpful and supportive. But despite that it was still very stressful and at times a traumatic experience. Even now, 9 months later, Melissa sometimes struggles. As most moms of preemies realize, the NICU experience doesn’t end when you walk out of the hospital with your baby. Of course they still have to be very cautious with Brianna. They can’t just take her out and about. She can’t go to the grocery store or department stores , to restaurants or even to work where Melissa could show her off. She has had exposure to extended family, but Brianna’s parents try to keep that to a minimum. The risk of her getting sick is just too high, given that her body didn’t have the same chance as full-term babies to fully develop an immune system.

  If Melissa had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: Take things one day at a time and celebrate all of the small victories.

  I asked Melissa to describe Brianna in one word and she said “AMAZING”.

  Brianna sure is an amazing child! And might I add cute as a button!!!

  If you would like to read about Brianna, you visit her here at Brianna Rose Ganey

  ---

  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/05/preemie-profile-26-weeker-gavin/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:29:00 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/05/preemie-profile-26-weeker-gavin/

  November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

  Our fourth profile is of Gavin Paquette.

  

  Gavin was born on December 22nd 2007 at 26 weeks 4 days, however the doctor said he was more the size of a baby born at 25 weeks and 3 days. They thought that possibly mom Jennifer was confused about the conception date however she wasn’t because she had IUI (Intrauterine insemination) to conceive.

  Jennifer had HELLP syndrome (a life-threatening obstetric complication usually considered to be a variant of pre-eclampsia.) Gavin weighed a mere 640 grams when he was born.

  During Gavin’s NICU stay he was intubated shortly after birth because the doctors said he was able to cry OR breathe, but not both at the same time. He was on the ventilator for 5 weeks when they were able (after a course of steroids) to wean him to CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure.) Gavin was on CPAP for 3-4 weeks, then they were able to wean him to high-flow nasal cannula oxygen. (He came home on oxygen and was on it until he was over a year old.)

  Gavin was OG (oral-gastric) tube fed for several weeks after starting on TPN for a few days after he was born. They wouldn’t feed him for the first few days because he hadn’t passed his meconium plug. They had to keep giving him enemas daily to pass it. Gavin started being fed by NG (nasogastric) tube after a while.

  About a week after he was born he ended up with pneumonia, and shortly thereafter he developed MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium responsible for difficult-to-treat infections) in one of his eyes. Parents were unable to touch his skin with bare hands until he reached 1000 grams, but he had MRSA at that time, so they couldn’t touch him until after that was cleared up. Because of his fragile state and being on the ventilator, they were unable to hold him until he was 5 weeks old, and that was only with gloves and gowns on due to the fact that he still had the MRSA.

  They started trying to bottle feed Gavin at 34 weeks. Breastfeeding was given a try in the hospital after working on bottle feeding, but Gavin never took to it. Most of his NICU stay was spent watching him desat (several hundred times a day at first!), and then trying to get him to gain weight so his lungs would get better. He retained fluid, so they started him on diuretics which he continued for about 6 months.

  Gavin spent a total of 103 days in the NICU before coming home. As far as effects from his prematurity, he has BPD (Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia-a chronic lung disorder that is most common among children who were born prematurely, with low birthweights, and who received prolonged mechanical ventilation.) A neurologist told Jennifer that all preemies have some degree of brain damage. She does not know yet if that’s true. Gavin seems to be mostly caught up at least to his adjusted age, and his physical health (except for his lungs, which are getting better all the time.)

  Gavin did have reflux while in the NICU and when he came home, but there was no luck with treating it with Prevacid or Zantac. They decided to just not treat it since it wasn’t that bad. He has been diagnosed with failure to thrive (a condition in which a child loses or fails to gain weight and grows at a slower rate than expected) since he wouldn’t drink more than a few ounces at a time until just recently. Gavin is finally starting to catch up on weight though.

  If Jennifer had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: Join a support group and get as much information and help as you can!

  I asked Jennifer to describe Gavin in one word and she said “FIGHTER”.

  I agree! It is not easy for any baby born this early to pull through the NICU without a fight!

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  ]]> http://prem2pram.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/going-home-packs-for-premature-babies/ Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:50:49 +0000 prem2pram http://prem2pram.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/going-home-packs-for-premature-babies/

  When a baby arrives prematurely undoubtedly they require a great amount of care and attention whilst in the hospital, however when the time comes for baby to go home parents are faced with new challenges.

  The charity Bliss works for improving care of premature babies and works with their families, researchers and med

  ical experts. This support continues with help and advice once parents and babies leave hospital.

  Going Home Packs from Bliss

  In conjunction with Fairy Non Bio and Pampers, Bliss now issues the ‘Going Home Pack’, which is specially made for the parents taking their premature babies home.

  The Going Home Pack contains a huge range of really useful information which should help you as you make that important transition to caring for your baby at home. The main booklet, called Going home: The next big step, will give you an overview of the things you are likely to have questions about – from sleeping and feeding, to follow-up

  appointments and how to travel by car. The booklet will then direct you to other booklets in the Pack that will provide you with more specific information on subjects including:

  

  Image via Wikipedia

  Sleeping
  Feeding
  Breastfeeding
  Weaning
  Financial advice
  Helpful facts for parents

  For more about the Bliss ‘Going Home Pack’ go to www.bliss.org.uk.

  For premature baby clothes and personalised baby gifts please visit prem2pram

  
  ]]> http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/01/preemie-profile-27-weekers-matthew-andrew/ Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:55:03 +0000 growingyourbaby http://growingyourbaby.com/2009/11/01/preemie-profile-27-weekers-matthew-andrew/

  November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

  Our twentieth profile is that of Matthew and Andrew.

  Matthew and Andrew were born on June 24th 2007 at 27 weeks 1 day.

  On Thursday June 21st 2007, mom Karen went in for a routine ultrasound. During the ultrasound she found out that although there were no previous signs of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome*, she was currently in Stage 3 TTTS with the identical twin boys. Karen and her husband quickly made plans to travel to Florida to have fetal laser surgery and laser the blood vessel connections between the boys. They never made it to Florida. On Sunday June 24th she started bleeding and went to the ER. The initial ultrasound in the ER showed that they had lost their son, Andrew. Matthew was in severe distress. Karen had an emergency C-section and at 8:38am the boys were born.

  Upon birth, Matthew weighed in at 1lb 14oz. Karen says that Matthew’s journey in the NICU was the roller coaster that is always talked about. It was constantly a few good days followed by several bad days. Some of the bad days were terrible. At one point he had an infection and subsequent capillary leak that almost took his life. In total, he had four major episodes of sepsis, he was on a ventilator for 3 months (including an oscillator), had surgical NEC (acute inflammatory disease occurring in the intestines) with a bowel resection, IVH (right grade III and left grade II), PVL (damage to the white matter of the brain near the ventricles), BPD (bronchopulmonary dysplasia), feeding difficulties, and severe reflux.

  After three months in one NICU, Matthew was transferred to the local Children’s hospital for a bowel resection. He remained in this NICU for an additional six weeks. He was discharged to six specialty physicians. He came home on oxygen, continuous NG tube feeds and an apnea monitor. Matthew was on nine different medications.

  Mom and dad thought they had made it through the hard part, but little did they know it was only the beginning of the journey.

  Matthew was in the NICU for a total of 135 days before coming home. The first two years of his life were pretty rough. He remained on O2 for an additional 6 months after his discharge. The spring after his discharge mom had enough of the NG tube and then had a G-Tube put in. Doctor appointments were frequent. As were the therapy appointments. Matthew had PT twice a week for almost 2 years. OT once a week for almost 2 years. Feeding therapy with a Speech Therapist between once and twice a week. Speech therapy is ongoing. He had strabismus and eye surgery to correct it around age 2.

  As with most preemies, his contact with the outside world was limited for the first 18-24 months. He had numerous ear infections and subsequent surgery to insert ear tubes. The reflux he experienced was like nothing mom and dad had ever seen. Along with the projectile vomiting numerous times a day, the pain he experienced with the reflux was severe.

  Karent says that their journey has gotten easier. The winding path they have been on has seen many of Matthews issues resolve themselves. Feeding is still the biggest challenge. Matthew never took a bottle. He never learned to drink from a sippy cup. At 17 months, Matthew learned to drink from a straw. He now is able to drink liquid from straw cups, but will only drink water or apple juice in very small amounts. If we get him to take 5 ounces in a day it is worth celebrating. At 18 months, they would be excited if he ate five bites of pureed baby food, that was considered a successful meal.

  Matthew is almost 2 ½ now. They have tried four therapists long-term over the last two and half years. Two others were fired after the first couple of visits. They have been seeing the current therapist since July. She has finally gotten Matthew to learn how to chew and swallow “table” foods. His foods of choice are very limited still: chips, ham, watermelon, grapes, bacon, pizza (his personal favorite), French fries, and any hard crunchy foods. However they consider this a tremendous success. A lot of the credit goes to the new therapist. She is truly an angel.

  Matthew is now 29 months. He weighs approximately 24 lbs. He is handsome and happy. He talks like crazy, speaking in sentences. His gross motor skills are where you would expect for a child his age. He is behind in the area of fine motor skills, but not enough that most people would even notice. Matthew runs, laughs, and plays. He is a trouble maker and calls himself “tricky” when he does something “bad.” He is a true joy.

  Matthew has an older sister (step sister) Megan who is 20 years old, born full term. There is also big sister Lauren who is 12 years old. And then little Sydney who is four years old. She was three weeks early (after pre-eclampsia, bedrest, several hospitalizations, and a nightmare of a pregnancy.)

  If Karen had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: The preemie journey, in my opinion is too complicated for one piece of advice. Here is what I found most important: have faith, take one day at a time, ask for and accept as much help as you can get, and most importantly pray.

  I asked Karen to describe Matthew in one word and she said “BEAUTIFUL.”

  Matthew truly is a beautiful child!!!!

  *Twin-to-twin syndrome is a condition of the placenta that develops only with identical twins that share a placenta. Blood vessels connect within the placenta and divert blood from one fetus to the other. It occurs in about 15 percent of twins with a shared placenta.

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