If you had a premature baby, did your baby have problems?

shiffycc

Thu, May 02 2013, 10:42 pm

amother wrote:

Thanks for the replies. My cousin's baby weighed one pound at birth, so I won't say anything because I don't want to scare her.

I just don't understand why there are problems when we have incubators.

Incubators are not wombs, to put it mildly. HKB made a perfect environment for fetus' to develop, and a plastic box isn't it. 1 lb babies often survive(maybe we can even say usually) and may not even have major lasting issues. Im not totally up on my fetal development, so the amothers can correct me if im wrong, but before birth a baby does not have to breathe for himself, eat, digest food etc. First of all, he goes from perfect amniotic fluid to an environment rife with toxins and germs. You don't know what a germophobe is until you've had a child In the nicu. Common germs that he is exposed to can be horribly dangerous to such a small thing, Next help has to strain himself to breathe. This burns calories. Because he is so tiny, and can take in so few calories, anything he does (moving,breathing, sucking, swollowing, digesting etc) runs the risk of burning more calories than he can afford. Next, his digestive system is not yet developed enough to handle food passing through it which can damage the intestines( which is likely why another poster said her son had to have a great deal of his intestines removed). The brain is not yet mature enough to regulate breathing and so can "forget" to breathe(sometimes numerous times a day), the lungs are not strong enough to take in enough oxygen and the heart is not strong enough to do all that pumping. Everything that touches their skin stimulates a nervous system that is too immature to be stimulated. He does not have nearly enough fat on him to keep him warm, and doesn't have a system in place to help him regulate his temperature.
This is REALLY only the tip of the iceberg. I am not trying to be melodramatic, just to illustrate that an incubator can only do so much. A baby that size wasn't "meant" to be born(obviously Hashem decided he was but that doesn't make his system in any way more mature)
With Hashems help may your cousins child grow into a healthy, strong child, without any lasting issues.

mandksima

Fri, May 03 2013, 12:01 am

shiffycc wrote:

amother wrote:

Yes. It does sound now like the OP is just curious so I won't go into great detail.

I had triplet micropreemies in the 24th week. Many don't survive period, unfortunately. We had one that didn't live long. Multiples actually fare better generally than singletons born in the same week. It is a lot to learn and go through but there is no way to predict the outcome of the child. With the best therapies and good parents, children have great potential. I can't say that any of them would be perfectly normal in every way though. There are just too many areas that have major to minor delays and areas that are unable to develop properly at all once born early. Lungs regenerate. Blood vessles in the eyes that haven't finished growing stay that way. Many areas do improve, many don't. Only Hashem decides. The thing is, so many children born at full term have issues like learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, sensory issues, need glasses, etc that the child may be similar and not be that much away from the norm of typical issues.

It is funny that one of my kids has speech issues still (12 years old) and the other has amazing language skills. One has a harder time reading, writing and with comprehension, and the other excels in that area. One has vision loss, the other wears glasses but normal enough in that area. Hearing is fine in both B"H. Sensory issues affected each in different ways. Social behaviour and understanding is probably one of the hardest areas for both.

The only thing that can be done now is to do everything the doctors sugggest, wait out the first 3-4 months because survival is not guaranteed until then anyway, fight for therapy and even move to a different area if need be to be eligble for what is necessary. I am serious. We made aliyah for that reason at that time. If it is not the first child, things will be harder because it is a full time job in itself. Learn about all the medical issues. Join support groups or at least talk to other parents. It is a big miracle for a child to live at that age and thrive. The parent's effort will hopefully result in reaching the best potential for this child. Daven for the best every day and accept the child for whatever he turns out to be.

mandksima

Fri, May 03 2013, 7:32 am

There is a huge difference in every additional week that a micropreemie is born in. A 26, 27 or 28 weeker is much better off than a 24 weeker unless they have other issues. 3 months early is not 4 months early where the baby is on the edge of viablity. I have yet to hear of a 24 weeker with no lasting issues whatsoever and I have been in touch with a lot over the years. Many of them have died within the first few months so lasting issues are not the main thought in the beginning but just to get them to survive the pysical hurdles of being born too early.

Like I said before, these issues may be like any other normal issues many kids have. They can be very smart, nothing to do with intellect. Mostly every genius level person I have come across has had some level of social dysfunction so even that is normal in society.

Once these kids grow up, it is hard to tell what issues stem from premature birth and which from genetic predispoisition. We have ADHD in the family so maybe it is from that, etc.

Mama Bear

Fri, May 03 2013, 7:42 am

amother wrote:

karen berzon wrote:

My son was a micro-preemie born at 26 weeks. He weighed less than a pound and a half. B"H we saw tremendous nissim. He was hospitalized for 4 plus months and home hospitalized for almost another four, hooked up to stuff. Each case is so individual. My son had emergency surgery in the incubator and they removed most of his intestines. He also has CP. But there are kids born that early that are fine or have slight issues. I personally do not suggest reading the books.

Incubators only do one thing; they keep the baby warm. If a baby's stomach, lungs etc are immature they are not ready to perform outside the womb. There's a reason pregnancy takes nine months. A baby's organs are not ready to work properly at 6 or 7 months gestation. often the retinas are not fused to the eye yet and that can cause blindness. There can be bleeds in the brain which cause cerebral palsy. Many many things can go wrong. The incubator only helps keep the baby warm, it doesnt speed up maturation of the baby's organs. Even if there are no major complications, such as with babies born at 31-36 weeks, often the lungs or sucking reflex are not mature yet and the baby takes a while to figure out how to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time. It's mindboggling how amazing are HaShem's creation, how many things have to go right, how many systems have to be perfectly in place for a newborn baby to be 100% healthy and functional. Once you have a preemie once you never take for granted when a baby is born full term and all systems are go....

shiffycc

Fri, May 03 2013, 7:46 am

mandksima wrote:

You are obviously more educated than I am (with good reason- my baby was born after 30 weeks so I did not go through half of what you went through). But I would think there is a vast difference between a baby having "normal" issues like Adhd, vision issues(not ROP), etc, and one who has more serious life affecting problems. in other words, if you don't know if the issue is stemming from prematurity or not, than its probably not such a terrible condition, no?

shiffycc

Fri, May 03 2013, 7:51 am

Mama Bear wrote:

amother wrote:

karen berzon wrote:

Mamabear, you said so well what I was TRYING to say.
id like to add that I think its mindboggling that after knowing all this some people still think its just "coincidence" that all these things come together to make a baby.

mandksima

Fri, May 03 2013, 8:03 am

shiffycc wrote:

mandksima wrote:

Something like CP or total blindness or any other physical issue would be obvious from prematurity than an emotional one. Behavioral, sensory or social issues can be so strong and more difficult for the child and the adult taking care of them than "just" a physical disability. They are life affecting problems that cause a lot of suffering just not life threatening. A terrible condition nonetheless so who is to say which is worse. One of my kids has partial blindness from ROP but thta is such a minor issue of ours compared to everything else.

shiffycc

Fri, May 03 2013, 8:39 am

mandksima wrote:

shiffycc wrote:

mandksima wrote:

karen berzon

Mon, May 06 2013, 1:09 am

amother wrote:

karen berzon wrote:

The problem that my son had could not be helped by the incubator. His intestines were so small, so the blood couldnt flow. He has such bad blockage in his intestines that they had to remove much of it. The condition is called NEC and is quite common in preemies since everything is so little. Since he was so sick with sepsis and many other things at the time of the surgery, his body closed down and that was probably when the brain damage set it. B"H for the tremendous nisim and chasdei hashem that we witnessed and continue to witness.