World Prematurity Day and Maple rolling over!

Just look at her! Surely I am not the only one that thinks she looks like a doll!

Yesterday, Maple rolled for the first time back to front. Ever since then she will not lay still and moves around like a clock on the play mat and in her cot! She got her leg stuck in the side of the cot too :-( Today she rolled onto the side of the cot and banged her head :-( Time is sure going fast, I cannot believe our littlest girl is 17 weeks old today and that Oscar and Bailee are 31 months old!

It is sad to see them grow up, but I do find that each stage brings new milestones to celebrate and a new type of fun. Every day with them is precious and I remind myself of this when it seems like there is too much to deal with at once.

Yesterday was World Prematurity Day. This is quite a significant day for me having had all three of my babies prematurely.

In order of birth:

Oscar Stuart, Born at 30+6 weighing 4lb, 1oz (1.84kg)
Bailee Honey, Born at 30+6 weighing 3lb, 11oz (1.67kg)
Maple Violet, Born at 35+5 weighing 6lb, 7oz (2.995kg)

There is no definitive reason why my three were born early. Possibly because of the placenta coming away from the uterus with Maple; possibly because of placenta abruption with the twins. People often suggest Oscar and Bailee were early because of being twins but the average gestation of twins is 35/36 weeks, not 31.

Premature birth is the leading cause of infant death, behind pneumonia, One of the reasons for World Prematurity Day is that much more knowledge is needed to address the solution for premature birth and reach a point where preterm birth is prevented. In at least 50% of cases, there is no known reason why the baby/babies were born too soon.

There are a number of reasons for building awareness of premature babies. In my case I wish I had of taken it more seriously when the lady in the antenatal group said to us that on average two sets of twins out of the group would need time in the NICU or SCBU. I seriously thought that because I was having such a healthy, straightforward twin pregnancy that it wouldn't happen to us. I mean, you know that multiples are going to come early, that is common sense. It is just about the reality that there is a very high chance they could come more than a little bit early and the 'bits' that go with that. I am really pleased that TAMBA have recently made a huge effort to increase awareness amongst multiple births around the UK. I am not clued up on if this is the case in other countries like New Zealand or the UAE?

In another sense, the naivety we had helped us stay strong through their time in the unit. It was much more difficult to deal with mentally with Maple as we then knew how lucky we were with our very premature twins.

I think there needs to be more support and information out there in general, and especially for parents of multiples and second time parents who have a premature baby second time around. I was told again and again that Maple (aka Rocky), would go full term based on the assumption that my previous pregnancy ended early because of it being multiples. I was not so naive with Maple. We fully considered the implications of her coming early. It still was, however, an immense challenge to split my time between Oscar and Bailee and looking after my brand new baby. Establishing feeding /expressing and delivering expressed milk for her feeds/ providing skin to skin contact and feeling like I was doing her care duties as her mother like changing and cleaning her were imperitive. With Oscar and Bailee I spent every waking hour at the hospital. When you already have children it is not so simple.

I will always be grateful that family stepped in and that we had Aunty Mecky come from Kuwait and Aunty KP come from Bali to stay and take care of the twins. It was more of a mental struggle and Oscar and Bailee didn't understand why mummy was leaving them behind in this new country every day.

Maple's stay in SCBU was a lot shorter than the twins. She only needed 8 nights, mainly because her lungs were immature and she wasn't breathing properly (Respiratory Distress Syndrome). She also needed to establish feeding and needed to go under the lights for jaundice. The twins needed all of the above as well as to gain a decent amount of weight.

I will always be very thankful for the competent doctors and nurses who cared for our three babies. We were very lucky that our children were in great hands. I even had breastfeeding support (Especially with the twins). Breastfeeding a premature baby can be a challenge. Most of the time, very early babies aren't given milk straight away until it is known it can be tolerated. The mother has to maintain a supply through expressing until then. Early babies tend to be extremely sleepy so fall asleep on the job, their mouths are tiny and the innate sucking reflex doesn't usually begin to develop until 32 weeks, and isn't fully developed until around 36 weeks gestation. Babies who are born earlier than that can learn and therefore feed earlier but in my opinion a mother is much more likely to succeed with breast feeding if given support and guidance in the early days and beyond.

It was fantastic to have that at Wexham Park (Although I had to ask for it). As a mother, when my babies were stuck in an incubator and relying on the hospital equipment and staff to survive, I felt somewhat helpless. Knowing that they were getting my breast milk, that I was doing something to give them the best start to life was a big comfort. I really hope that more and more mothers are given the support needed to achieve this.

This is such a long blip, but I want to end saying that I have had a few really good friends who have had early babies in the last couple of years and even months. This day for me is a tribute to their babies and especially those who were too precious for this earth.