Premature Baby Pre-Eclampsia Journey – 29wk severe IUGR premmie
This was such a beautiful video of premature baby born at KEMH hospital so i wanted to share. What a gorgeous little boy and he has done so well being born so small. His premature birth is an inspiration to many.
May 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Premature Babies Need Cuddles
May 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Cuddling up against their mother’s bare skin can help babies born as early as 28 weeks recover more quickly from the painful medical procedures, a new research suggests.
According to the Canadian study, very premature babies benefit from skin to skin contact with their parents. Writing in the journal BMC Pediatrics, the McGill University team said it might aid the recovery process.
This study is the first to look at extremely premature babies, born between 28 and 31 weeks. It was previously thought by some experts that such young babies were not developed enough to benefit from human touch.
A common test used in neonatal units is the “heel prick” blood test, which produces a sample, which can be used to check blood sugar levels. 
This is inevitably painfill for the baby, and in some cases, it can take minutes for this distress to recede which could be a problem for a baby whose health is in the balance.
In the study researchers carried out the test on some babies who were being actively cuddled, skin-to-skin, measuring facial expressions, heart rate and blood oxygen levels to assess the amount of pain suffered.
Pain scores after 90 seconds for the cuddled babies were much lower than for those who were not cuddled. Half the cuddled babies did not show any facial expression of pain when undergoing a heel prick test. Lead researcher Celeste Johnston said that the shorter recovery time could help maintain the baby’s health.
“The pain response in very preterm neonates appears to be reduced by skin-to-skin maternal contact,” BBC quoted her, as saying. Professor Linda Franck, from the Institute of Child Health in London, said that parents were often not encouraged to have skin-to-skin contact with their premature babies in UK neonatal units, despite growing evidence that it could help.
She said: “Neonatal units can be very intimidating places, and parents often do not know the best way to get involved. Parents want to do the right thing, but the message is difficult to get out there.”
“This study suggests that, even for the very youngest premature babies, skin to skin contact can reduce the stress response.”
Mothers Day
May 12, 2008 By 1 Comment
Last year was my first Mothers Day.
It felt much like any other day in the weeks before or after it – trekking in to the hospital, reading the chart to see how much Talia weighed and how much milk she’d been fed, watching the nurses take care of my baby. It was hard sometimes to even feel that she was really mine, when all I could do was change the occasional nappy, express my milk via a machine and hope for a cuddle once a day or every second day. I worried about her, I shed plenty of tears.
Taking her home and leading a normal life seemed a distant dream.
This year it is the NICU which is a dream, dimmed by time but not forgotten.
Pictures of premature babies on the news bring tears to my eyes but for us, so much has taken place, so much has changed in a year. My beautiful daughter finally allowed to go home. Breastfeeding, settling, weigh-ins. First smiles, tummy time, growing out of clothes, starting solids. Sitting, rolling, turning the pages of a book. Our first birthday celebrations.
Another Mothers’ Day.
We shared it with my mothers’ group, holding a joint first birthday party for our babies, born between March 20 (Talia’s birthday) and June 22 (the day Talia left hospital) last year. I made party food, sewed a gift and helped decorate the venue. Yes I am a real mum – I can walk the walk (while pushing a pram) and talk the talk and have the t-shirt to prove it (almost certainly with baby food smeared onto it). I still worry and I still shed tears from time to time, and maybe I always will. It seems to be part and parcel of being a mother.
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