World Prematurity Day

Today is World Prematurity Day, a day to raise awareness about premature births.

 

As most of you know, our boys were born prematurely at 29 weeks. I had no major issues during my pregnancy except that I was carrying 3 babies & they were big babies for their gestation. My belly measured 40+ weeks when I was just 25 weeks pregnant. Four weeks later I gave birth to 10lbs worth of babies. My cervix just couldn't hold onto that much baby & I dilated without contractions or any signs of real labor. Thankfully I was already in the hospital on bed rest & the boys were taken to the NICU without incident. We were very VERY lucky to have no major problems with any one of the boys & they just had to hang out learning to eat & growing.

Unfortunately we are not the majority when it comes to babies being born at the same gestation. Most of these babies need ventilators to help them breathe & many need life saving surgeries at such fragile sizes & ages, and some do not survive.

 

 

The boys birth-day was a scary day for Donna & I, we didn't know what to expect. How big would the boys be? Would they be able to breath on their own? Would they have long term health problems or disabilities? Would they survive being born 11 weeks prematurely? 

 

The next 6 weeks were a roller coaster ride, not of life threatening issues bit the little things like jaundice that just won't go away & reflux causing apnea spells keeping the boys for a whole week longer. Also with my own healing, an emergency surgery do to hemorrhaging & more little things (that don't seem so little at the time) like milk production & being able to feed all 3 babies with my own milk.

 

 

We are blessed beyond measure to have 3 healthy, happy, rambunctious little (big) boys & are so so thankful for all of the amazing people who not only took care of our babies in the NICU but that also cared for me to get us as far along as possible before meeting our miraculous babies!

 

If you'd like to show your support, learn more, or make a donation, please visit the March of Dimes website.