World Prematurity Day 2020

Today I’m getting a little more personal and I'm blogging to raise awareness about prematurity. I didn't know about this day in 2008, but I did participate with my husband and then 2yo daughter Africa in our first March for Babies to raise money and awareness for prematurity. In 2009 the cause struck closer to my heart and my family as our son Kirikou was born 20 weeks too soon. Being so early and underdeveloped we were told there was nothing that could be done for him. His early arrival was multifaceted. At 16 weeks I had PPROM and my water broke. I was rushed to the hospital and put on total bed rest. The doctor whom I hadn't seen before, but was a high-risk doctor associated with the midwife practice I was going to originally said he was going to do a cerclage, but then decided against it claiming I had enough floods. Mind you I was in the hospital on an IV from about 2 pm until he visited my room around 10 pm. By the time I visited his office in person I barely had any fluid for my little boy and yet he still did not suggest to change his mind on the cerclage. In fact, he casually throughout terminating the pregnancy.

I lasted another 4 weeks on permanent bed rest drinking gallons of water to maintain the fluid I'd lose at the slightest movement before I caught an infection that caused me to go into early labor and threatened my uterus and the possibility of future children.

At this point, it was decided that we induce labor and deliver our first son at 20 weeks 5 days. He lived for 4 hours after being born. He was a strong baby no matter how small. The short time that he lived raised the love and appreciation for others going through this situation.

In 2010 we were blessed with a beautiful little girl, Khalifah. But the heartache of the outcome of my last pregnancy made me a little paranoid this time and also classified me as a High-Risk of preterm labor since I had a previous early birth. Therefore I was prescribed weekly P17 shots to keep all the parts that usually start labor closed and was closely monitored by my OB and a Perinatologist. My little one still arrived 2 weeks early in the 'Full Term' range, but still at risk for issues. While she had no physical or mental issues we did have IUGR (Interuterine growth restriction) during the pregnancy causing my little one to be slightly smaller than her sister, but still healthy.

In 2011 I found out I was pregnant again. Due to the previous girls and the loss of our son I decided to be surprised as I was already worried about my last pregnancy so if I knew it was to be a boy I was sure I'd be doubly worried. I know that having the previous boy had nothing to do with the issues but didn't want/need the added stress. As before being classified as High-Risk of preterm labor I was again prescribed weekly P17 shots. Our little guy was born 2 weeks early just like his sister on Leap day 2012.

I like to think that people like myself that see the need to assist families like myself and others that have lost a child, have one with ailments, or is currently perfectly healthy but all born too soon that this blog post and the money we raise yearly for the March for Babies is doing something.

Please take this blog and think about someone you may know that was born prematurely whether it be a family member, friend, or child of a friend if you think hard enough you will find that there are more premature births than you realize. After thinking about it look into the March for Babies and if in Houston I would love to see you marching on either April 10th in Fort Bend county(<--We will be here) or May 1st in Montgomery County.

Or we know COVID has limited a lot of things please join the virtual walk and stay safe out there.