11/17/2025
💜 Today is World Prematurity Day 💜
My introduction to prematurity was painful and personal. Suddenly needing to deliver our baby way too early, for my health and his, was difficult to reconcile. Especially after so many term births and healthy babies. Asking the neonatalogist about his chances of survival, long term effects of his early delivery.
My tiny human suddenly on the outside, me constantly worrying if he will be okay. Every time the phone rang, worrying it was bad news from the NICU. Running nonstop for 37 days to try to be home and in the NICU at the same time. Pumping around the clock because it’s the only thing I could really do for my tiny preemie. Living in a plastic bucket with tubes and alarms.
It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. My sweet boy, now 4 years old. You would never know about his challenging start.
10.4% of babies in the US are born prematurely, 1 in 10 (almost 374,000 in 2023)
We have a lot of work to do.
