A Micro Preemie Baby Emily Bockover Northwest State Community College A Micro Preemie Baby Can you imagine watching the most beautiful baby in the world fight for his or her life and know that there is absolutely do nothing for them but pray to God that they will get through this. Imagine knowing that it could be their last breath that they may ever take and knowing that you may never hold that precious baby. When a micro preemie is born, they cannot be held, they are immediately taken away from you and have millions of tests run. Most micro preemies will live in a hospital until their actual due date. Life a micro preemie is all about how big of a fight they can put up for the life that they were giving. Why they lay there fighting for their life, you are asking yourself where you went wrong. The answer may never be known, and usually there is absolutely nothing you did wrong. Pregnancy can be a difficult time and may not always be the way we had hoped it would be. I watched a little boy at 1 pound and 7 ounces fight for his life. At one point in that battle he dropped below at pound. That little boy is my cousin who has the biggest impact on my life today and the person I look up to. He is now 2 years old and best little boy that ever walked into my life. We will go through in this paper, what is a micro preemie, the developmental delays and health risk they go through, the equipment being used. What is a micro preemie? A micro preemie is defined as a baby that is less than 1 3/4 pounds or generally born before 26 weeks gestation. To most people now a baby anywhere under 3 pounds or under 29 weeks gestation is now considered to be a micro preemie baby (Bird). Micro preemies often require a long stay in the hospital after ... ... middle of paper ... ...en trained to use in case of an emergency. When it comes to a micro preemie, some of your hardest decision in life will be made. A micro preemie is the most delicate child you will ever hold. They are your strongest fighters and some of the best survivors. Not all micros come out having long-term health problems and due to our technology today the survival rate of a micro has increased tremendously. You look beyond the health problems and bless the miracle that is lying right in front of you fighting for his or her life. Yes, there are many health risks that may come along in age, but your biggest battle is over with. Micros and preemies are two different definitions, but are both fighting the same battle, ones just fighting a little harder, but can both have the same outcome. Bless the children and parents that are fighting for their life or their child’s life.
I once did not realize the ethics of medical care of an infant, let alone one that is ill in the NICU. Baby Dylan was at 23 weeks gestation when mother Jennifer and father Kevin gave birth to him. He seemed like a little human eager to live but even the latest advances in medicine were unable to keep him alive. I believe that the parents ended up making the correct decision for baby Dylan. If he ended up being a “keeper” he still could have had severe neurological and respiratory problems for the rest of his life.
Mphahlele, R. R. (2007). Caring for premature babies - a clinical guide for nurses. Professional Nursing Today, 11(1), 40-46.
Neonatal nursing is a field of nursing designed especially for both newborns and infants up to 28 days old. The term neonatal comes from neo, "new", and natal, "pertaining to birth or origin”. Neonatal nurses are a vital part of the neonatal care team. These are trained professionals who concentrate on ensuring that the newborn infants under their care are able to survive whatever potential life threatening event they encounter. They treat infants that are born with a variety of life threatening issues that include instances of prematurity, congenital birth defects, surgery related problems, cardiac malformations, severe burns, or acute infection. Neonatal care in hospitals was always done by the nursing staff but it did not officially become a specialized medical field until well into 1960s. This was due to the numerous advancements in both medical care training and related technology that allowed for the improved treatment and survival rate of premature babies. According to the March of Dimes, one of every thirteen babies born in the United States annually suffers from low birth weight. This is a leading cause in 65% of infant deaths. Therefore, nurses play a very important role in providing round the clock care for these infants, those born with birth defects or other life threatening illness. In addition, these nurses also tend to healthy babies while their mothers recover from the birthing process. Prior to the advent of this specialized nursing field at risk newborn infants were mostly cared for by obstetricians and midwives who had limited resources to help them survive (Meeks 3).
At birth the neonate goes through many physical changes (Fraser & Cooper, 2009). The most dramatic and difficult being when the newborn takes its first breath (Meeks & Hallsworth, 2010). This breathing triggers change within the heart, lungs, blood flow and every other system of the neonate (Coad & Dunstall, 2009). During the first few minute until 6 hours of life, the neonate is considered to be transitioning from intrauterine to extra-uterine life (Sinha, Miall, & Jardine, 2012). It is within this time that the neonate needs close observations to evaluate their progress into their new life, thus showing the importance of newborn examinations within neonatal care (Fraser & Cooper, 2009).
Even if their baby is not able to live, they want to give another baby that opportunity. They want to give another family the opportunity to see their child grow. Sometimes the parents of an anencephalic infant want to donate the infant 's organs to other babies who need healthy organs. They say that, “by donating the newborn 's organs, they feel that the pregnancy would at least have had some value: their own loss can be another family 's gain.” In the United States, about 2000 babies each year need organs, and the only suitable organs for tiny babies are those from other tiny babies. However, there are also some parents who wish to keep their baby alive. ("3. ANENCEPHALIC BABIES
...U is a very important factor in a preemie or a baby born birth defects life.
It is highly possible that something could go wrong causing the child to suffer. In the early stages of this new technology what would happen if something unexpected was to occur? Would the staff in charge of taking care of the fetuses be able to change settings on an instrument supporting the fetuses? In the rare event of a power outage or a natural disaster would a generator kick in fast enough to support these fetuses? These questions are all things that would have to be dealt with in the early stages of this new technology as well as in later stages. Supporting a life is not something that can be left unattended at any time.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every eight babies each year in the United States is born premature. This affects approximately 500,000 babies yearly. Premature babies are defined as babies born more than three weeks before the baby’s due date. Full term babies are born at approximately forty weeks, and premature babies are born at less than thirty-seven weeks. In the final months and weeks of pregnancy, important growth and development occur in the fetus. This is why premature babies are considered to be at-risk for a number of issues. The earlier that a baby is born, the baby’s risks drastically increase for developmental issues.
There are main 3 situations with low birth weights. Infants who have their birth weight below 2500g are called as low birth weight. Infants who have their birth weight below 1500g are called as very low birth weight and infants who have their birth weight below 1000g are called as extremely low birth weight. But there are 20 million infants who have low birth weight every year and also considerably high rate of low birth weights are recorded in developing countries and it is 96%. Most of infants with low birth weights have risk of mortality and n...
Death among premature babies is a growing epidemic which extensive research could prevent. Reported by the march of dimes “about 19,000 babies died in their first month, in the United States” (“Newborn Loss”). There are countless amounts of babies dying each year due to the lack of research. Funding for this needed research on premature babies would prevent the amount of countless deaths among infants in the world. If these lives were saved by new research this would impact more countless lives in a positive way instead of letting death negatively affect new infants and relatives. Newly funded research could also lead to more known causes for these deaths. Half of al...
"Fetal Development: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health. Web. 06 Mar. 2011. .
... Those babies may not be fully prepared to live in the environment which is full of infections and the ability to control their body temperature, as well as they are not capable of gaining weight after birth. Due to such complexness’s, almost all low-birth weight babies are cared for under special units in a neonatal intensive care unit before being sent to the family. In the future also they tend to be undernourished, throughout their lives with reduced muscle strength, with a higher probability of diabetes and heart diseases. LBW babies are also reported to have higher cognitive disabilities and a lower IQ levels, since their performance in education and professional levels can be affected as adults.
I was born a miracle baby, which I believe is fitting enough. My umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck while I was in the womb, which led to my mother having to have a c-section in order for me to be born. It is pretty incredible what modern technology can do. A few decades ago and my mom would not have survived and I would not have been born. I have always been grateful for the doctors who performed this. I even wanted to become a doctor for a little bit while I was younger, but the whole profession just didn’t seem too entertaining.
- Frequently carried babies fall asleep quickly and will learn to sleep for longer periods of time in the comfort of their sling.
Every woman when pregnant has a 3-5% chance of having a baby born with a birth defect, and these chances increase when the developing fetus/ embryos are exposed to teratogens, whether it’s intentional or unintentional (Bethesda (MD), 2006). Teratogens can cause severe birth defects, malformations, or terminate the pregnancy altogether (Jancárková, & Gregor, 2000). The placenta is known as an effective barrier from any detrimental pathogen that can potentially hurt the fetus. The timing of exposure of any teratogen is critical to the impact of prenatal development (Bethesda (MD), 2006). The most vulnerable time of the fetus for severe damage is during early pregnancy when all the major organ and central nervous system (CNS) are developing. Miscarriages have an important role in keeping a pregnancy from evolving when there is something serious going on with the developing fetus/embryo. Miscarriages are more common than we think and are the most familiar type of pregnancy loss (Bethesda (MD), 2006).