Mother: ‘It was just a matter of fattening baby John up’ after premature birth
Her first son Martin, delivered at 38 weeks, had prepared her for the possibility that John might not stay the course, but she never expected a delivery at 28 weeks and two days.
“With Martin, I went for my 38-week check-up and was sent to the foetal assessment unit by my consultant. After the sonographer had a look she said ‘things aren’t looking good’.
My consultant then told me to get my bags, no panic, but that he was going to induce my baby that day.
Martin was fine, he weighed 5½lb, he didn’t have to go to the neo-natal unit and he came home with me.”
John was a little trickier. Gráinne, from Midleton, Co Cork, had a small bleed at 24 weeks and her GP sent her to Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) for a scan.
She was scheduled for another scan at 28 weeks and met the same sonographer that scanned her prior to Martin being born.
“The last time I was in this room, my baby was born shortly afterwards,” Gráinne said to the sonographer, little knowing how prescient her words were.
The sonographer had a look and sent her straight back to her consultant who told her go home and pack her bags and sort out her childcare, that she would be staying in hospital until the baby was born.
He too displayed signs of intrauterine growth restriction, where an unborn baby is smaller than it should be because it is not growing at a normal rate inside the womb. This is commonly due to a problem with the placenta — the tissue connecting mother and foetus, carrying oxygen and nutrients to the baby.
John was born a couple of days later, giving the hospital enough time to administer steroids to speed up development of the baby’s lungs.
“He was fine, he was very small and was put on a ventilator but it was just a matter of fattening him up and getting him home,” Gráinne says.
The toughest part was having to leave her baby behind for 48 nights in CUMH’s neonatal unit. Fortunately her retired father was able to drive her from Midleton to CUMH most days but she found it hard “pumping breast milk at home with no baby in sight”.
John, now aged 3, is in perfect health and Gráinne’s advice to parents facing the prospect of premature birth is to “ask loads of questions, get all the information you need, and don’t lie in bed worrying about what might never be. Trust your instincts and put your trust in the doctors. I did.”
Gráinne is one of a number of speakers who will address the Irish Neonatal Health Alliance medical symposium which takes place at the Davenport Hotel in Dublin today, in the run up to World Prematurity Day on November 17.
