November is preemie awareness month but today is preemie awareness day. We need to fight for our preemies and hopefully one day all babies will be born healthy.
Before Alexandrea was born, I had been in the NICU a few times. Once for some friends who had some twins, They mainly had temp issues, but overall were very healthy and were able to go home by the time mom was released.
Then my little sister had my neice at aroud 33 weeks, she was 3 lbs 15 oz, had a fairly smooth ride and came home after 19 days
Just a few day old .
Now 16 months
When I went into the hosp, we figure we would be in and out , little did we know , we would be starting our NICU battle full of many ups and downs. We have been through so much with Alexandrea with her breathing issues, possible NEC (necrotizing entercolitis), her ASD (atrial septal defect), FTT (failure to thrive), tranfering to a higher level NICU 300 miles from home. Then not to mention the huge snow storm that covered Portland Oregon.
I met a lot of great people while we were in Porland, made some wonderful friends that were going through the same thing,and even moms that had term babies that were born with issues. The march of dimes did a wonderful job of getting us moms, dad, sisters and bothers and any other family member who wanted to join to scrapbook, make a hat or just have dinner.
Another Blogger mom posted thsi on her blog - she to had her some early
we are the luccky one, while we mand of had issues with Alexandrea, We still feel very fortunate that we have her here
Not every baby is so lucky.........Do you know a baby that was born too soon, too small, unable to suck, unable to breathe on his own? Premature birth is a health crisis that jeopardizes the lives and health of nearly half-million babies each year. It is the #1 killer of newborns and can lead to lifelong disabilities. Worse: the number has increased 31 percent since 1981. It can happen without warning and for no known reason. Until we have more answers, anyone’s baby, could be born too soon.Medical advances give even the tiniest babies a chance of survival, yet for many babies premature birth is still a life or death condition. It’s the #1 cause of death during the first month of life. And babies who survive face serious health challenges and risk lifelong disabilities.The rate of premature birth has never been higher. In half the cases, we simply don’t understand what went wrong. We need to fight for answers. And, ultimately, preventions.In January 1938, President Roosevelt established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to save American’s youth from Polio. His premise was that people can solve any problem if they work together. Comedian Eddie Cantor created the first grassroots fund-raiser for the National Foundation, asking the public to send dimes to President Roosevelt at the White House. The effort was called the March of Dimes, which later became part of the official name of the foundation. President Roosevelt created a partnership of volunteers and researchers and within 17 years, the Salk vaccine (named after Jonas Salk, the doctor who developed it) had been developed and polio was on the run. With the approval of the Salk vaccine and resulting eradication of polio, the March of Dimes turned its focus to a new mission to save America’s youth. Since 1958, the March of Dimes has been funding cutting edge research and innovative programs to save babies from birth defects, premature birth and low birthweight.November 17 is dedicated to raising awareness of the crisis of premature birth. The March of Dimes invites bloggers like you to get involved. • Learn about premature birth at marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies
