On November 17 we celebrate the World Premature Day, a date created to commemorate the strength and vitality of these little heroes, who for different reasons come to the world too soon. Currently, one in ten children is born premature, although medical advances are making more and more babies get ahead with the least possible consequences.
To know closely the story of a premature baby is to know a history of struggle, anguish but also of great joys for small advances and, especially admiration. Today I bring you the story of Andrés, a baby who came to the world with a very special mission ...
To little Andres He still has 11 weeks to come to the world, but his hurried arrival and ahead of time had a firm purpose: to make his mother smile again.
And is that Cris's life had taken a radical turn in just one month, from absolute happiness, to the deepest sadness caused by the sudden death of her husband.
Cris, who was 24 years old at the time, could not bear so much grief and the stress of what happened triggered the premature delivery of her baby.
Andrés came to the world with just 29 weeks gestation and 1,370 grams of weight. He was immediately admitted to the neonatal ICU, where he spent 23 days fighting as a true warrior and eight more days in average care.
Andrés doing skin to skin with his mom The hospital stay: schedules and breastfeeding scheduled every three hours
Andrew was born ten years ago in a hospital in Madrid, and although the human treatment that both he and his mother received was impeccable, at that time Cris had to abide by "visiting hours" to be with his premature baby and a lactation scheduled every three hours when he entered middle care.
"In the hospital they told me that my milk was liquid gold for my premature baby, so at first I would take it out in the breastfeeding room for mothers who were in the ICU. When my son was able to breastfeed, I would put it to my chest every three hours, which was what they left me, and there they supplemented it with an artificial milk supplement for premature babies "
At night, Cris could not access the ICU to be with his baby, but in exchange he did not separate a minute from him throughout the day. The neonatologists explained that they were beginning to implement a method called "kangaroo", which was giving excellent results in premature babies, so this mom and her baby were among the first to test the benefits of skin to skin.
"From the fourth or fifth day I was able to leave the incubator, my baby and I spent all the hours we could doing skin to skin; until the night came, the ICU closed and I had to go home"
Luckily, the kangaroo method that could seem so new ten years ago is today a reality in most hospitals and something that both premature babies and full-term children benefit from.
The day of discharge
After 31 days of hospital stay, Andrés was discharged. It was certainly a record time, taking into account the weeks of gestation he was born when he was born and the corrected age at which he left the hospital: 33 weeks.
"The day I took it home I was very happy. I was not afraid. I needed him, my body was screaming at him. From that day we started enjoying together, finally "
"On the day of discharge, our neonatologist was crying when he said goodbye to us. I remember that he took my son in his arms and said: Andrés, how brave and how big you are. Now go to a little house with mom and be happy all your life. we will always remember you "
Cris remembers that stage of his life with a mixture of emotion and sadness. Both she and her little Andres were great fighters and both managed to get by supporting each other.
"I know that my son came into the world to save my life. I don't know what would have happened to me without him"
"They are stronger than we can imagine"
On International Premature Day, Cris always has words of encouragement towards all the families that are currently living this situation.
"The most beautiful thing is to see how these little great little people overcome each day. They are strong, more than we can imagine. And they are also special, like the neonatologists who accompany us on this hard road."
"I can only encourage families that currently have a premature baby admitted. Step by step they are winning battles. Trust your babies, do a lot of skin with skin and talk to them all the time!"
Ten years have passed since that experience and today Andrés is a beautiful, healthy, intelligent and good-natured child. Cris, has become the mother of two more children and is also a lactation consultant, so she knows the benefits of skin with skin and breastfeeding, especially premature babies.
Today, mother and son are part of a beautiful and happy large family, giving us all a lesson in overcoming and fighting, and demonstrating that life is to fight it, to enjoy it and to live it.
I encourage all premature babies and their parents! You are great fighters!
In Babies and More Premature births increased by 36% in the last 20 years, The premature baby needs to feel that they touch him for a better brain development, Tour of a Neonatal ICU: all for the sake of premature babies, Breastfeeding improves heart structure in premature babies
