Strollerderby : preemies

Hospital May Not Let Octo-Mom Take Her Preemies

Madeline Holler — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:27:00 GMT

Nadya Suleman called Dr. Phil McGraw in a panic yesterday saying the hospital where her premature octuplets are being cared for may not release them to her.

McGraw (is he her new spokesperson?) told the LA Times about Suleman's distressed phone call.

He said Kaiser Permanente wasn't likely to release the babies -- who are now 34 weeks old since conception -- until she had a better living arrangement. She also told Dr. Phil that the hospital had some concerns about her ability to care for the children. He didn't have details on those concerns.

The hospital wouldn't comment on the Suleman babies specifically. But a spokesperson said social workers do work with parents to determine which services their children might need and what the family qualifies for. Child Protective Services may also be brought in if social workers feel there may be a risk to the children.

From the Times:

When the infants reach 35 weeks, they are released once they can maintain their body temperature, eat regularly and without difficulty and demonstrate continued growth. Often, the children are about five pounds when they are released ...

The babies are getting close and appear to be doing fine. But Suleman's parents' house, where she lives, is in pre-foreclosure and a bit full with her six other kids and only three bedrooms.

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Photo: celebritygossip.com

Preemie to Pediatrician

Amy Kuras — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:31:00 GMT

Imagine how proud you’d be if your child excelled in school, worked hard and achieved their goal of an important career.

And now imagine that 30 years ago that baby was born 12 weeks early and left for dead, covered up by a nurse who thought his heart had stopped beating long before birth only to hear him make some noises and see his foot move. And that he worked hard to overcome the disabilities that caused as he grew, finally graduating from medical school and becoming a pediatrician.

That’s what happened for Lisa Dalton and her son Jeremy. When he was born, doctors told her there was little hope of survival, and even if he did live he’d be unable to ever walk, talk or feed himself. But the little baby showed them otherwise and continued with that kind of determination the rest of his life. A lack of oxygen at birth caused cerebral palsy, but that never stopped him from achieving, even if it took him longer or he had to figure out a different way to do something.

It gets better – the doctor who cared for him in the NICU, Dr. Thelma Sutter, always remembered him. Lisa Dalton sent Dr. Sutter updates over the years. Soon after Jeremy began his pediatric practice, he ran into Dr. Sutter at a local hospital. The name didn’t ring a bell right away, but when it did she went running down the hall after him. When she discovered he was the baby she’d cared for so long ago, she told him “I was always so proud of you.”

I sort of love everyone in this story. Not only did Lisa Dalton always keep up with the doctor who cared for her son, she continued to send cards to the NICU, letting them know that premature babies could survive and thrive.

Pass the tissue please…and somebody get the Hallmark Channel on the phone!

Photo credit: AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, John A. Bowersmith

Donated Breastmilk Comes to NY, Slowly

Miriam Axel-Lute — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Hudson Valley Breastfeeding recently became only the second facility in all of New York state to receive a license to store and dispense donated breastmilk from a milk bank.

Milk banks collect expressed milk from rigorously screened and tested volunteers, pasteurize it, and dispense to hopsitals or individuals with a prescription. It can fill a gap where breastfeeding isn't possible, or where it's slow to get established.

Given that many of the circumstances that make breastfeeding difficult to near impossible—such as severe prematurity, maternal illness, or trying to switch away from formula at a later age due to allergies—are also times when the fine-tuned nutrition and infection-fighting properties of breastmilk are particularly needed, it's surprising to me that New York has been so slow to embrace this option.

Of course it does have to be shipped in from North Carolina, which has the only milk bank licensed to ship to New York state. (New York mothers can donate to that milk bank though. Go FedEx overnight shipping!) There are, in fact, only 10 milk banks in the country (shipping to 80 cities). And sometimes they run out.

Sounds to me like there next step needs to be a much bigger outreach to and cultivation of potential donors. Despite my own plentiful supply, turns out I wouldn't have qualified (I lived in England in the wrong year, so I'm a mad cow risk, doncha know), but it's certainly not like anyone asked. (Though there are those on Craigslist who will pay you . . .) Perhaps the milk banks could borrow some of the blood-drive PR people. (Become a donor.)

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Pre-Term Elective C-Sections Are Dangerous: So Why Insure Them?

Miriam Axel-Lute — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Michael McGuire is CEO of UnitedHealth, a health-insurance provider in New Jersey. In an op-ed in the Trenton Times recently he talked intelligently about the health dangers of elective pre-term c-sections.

The evidence keeps mounting—prematurity, even by a few weeks, means higher rates of breathing problems, cerebral palsy, NICU stays, etc. When the baby's not ready to come out, it's not ready, folks.

McGuire makes the impressive assertion that when he explained this carefully to a "pilot group" of physicians and hospitals and they stopped scheduling c-sections before 39 weeks, there was a 46 percent drop in NICU stays. Those are results to write home about. As he writes, "That's almost half the number of newborns with potential health problems, almost half the number of distraught parents, al most half the number of potential tragedies. The cost savings to these hospitals, the parents and the health-care system is enormous."

He notes carefully, as do I, that sometimes a pre-term c-section is medically necessary for health of mother and/or baby. Obviously, that is not what I'm talking about. But I would include c-sections that are planned for medical reasons,* but where there is no medical reason not to carry the baby to term. I think those are far, far more common than the over-hyped "too posh to push" phenomenon.

So here's what I want to know: If it's documented to be such a health risk, why don't McGuire and his colleagues just stop paying for c-sections that are unnecessarily scheduled at an unsafe time?

Insurers already go out of their way to not cover things they claim are optional (including some that are emphatically not), not to mention dangerous. Usually I question their judgment, but the evidence is pretty compelling on this one.

I'm all for educating docs, but it seems to me the insurers could stop this practice cold with their purse strings.

Photo by César Rincón.

*(Of course, many of those "medical reasons," like a previous c-sections or breech presentations, don't actually require a c-section, but that's a separate post.)

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They Say: Even Late Preemies at Higher Risk

Kate Tuttle — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:02:00 GMT

While it's long been known that premature babies face a much higher incidence of cerebral palsy and other medical problems, most of the infants thought to be at risk were those born before 34 weeks -- the tiny babies, notably premature, whose entire bodies can fit into the palm of their father's hands. But new research suggests that even bigger, healthier-seeming babies, when born before term, are much more likely to fall victim to the health problems of prematurity. And at a time when more and more women are giving birth early due to inductions or scheduled C-sections, that risk needs to be better communicated, according to the doctors who authored the study.

The study, which examined the circumstances of more than 140,000 babies born at 30 weeks or later, concluded that babies born from 34 to 36 weeks' gestation, although often appearing as big and healthy as full-term newborns, were three times more likely to have cerebral palsy than babies born at 37 weeks, and up to 25% more likely to face mental retardation and other developmental delays. Because the babies in the study have not yet entered elementary school, the authors point out, it's too early to know whether other learning-based problems will be detected.

While overall rates of prematurity are fairly steady, the number of babies born from 34-36 weeks is growing, and currently represents one in 11 births in the US. The study did not look into the reasons for the late preterm births, and some surely were medically indicated (pre-eclampsia, for instance, pretty much demands that a baby be born early, to save both lives).According to the study's authors, however, some of those "late preterm" births were due to early inductions or C-sections that were not medically necessary (remember that the next time a Hollywood starlet says she's due "sometime in the fall" and has a six-pounder).

Pre-term Elective C-Sections Are Dangerous: So Why Insure Them?

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Does Where You Live Put You At Risk For A Preterm Baby?

SunnyChanel — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:45:00 GMT

I’m really not sure if pure geography has anything to do with it, but the recent study by the March of Dimes on preterm births shows evidence that where you live may affect the odds of having a preemie. Who had the highest and lowest preterm births? Vermont had the lowest amount whereas Mississippi had the highest.

The March of Dimes, as part of a “federal goal of lowering preterm births” , did the study and graded the nation with a big fat “D”. That ain’t too good. According to the AP, more than 500,000 babies in the United Sates are prematurely born every year, with a rise steadily over the last twenty years.

The goal for the government is to have “no-more than 7.6 percent of babies born” before 37th weeks of pregnancy by 2010. In Vermont, the lowest on the scale, 9% of the babies born there were premature. And in Mississippi the rate was a whopping 18.8%.

They found that there were three factors that lead to a premature birth:

Lack of insurance – not enough or early enough pre-natal care.

Smoking – they suggest that a shocking 17% of women smoke during pregnancy!

Late Preemies – Babies born between 34 and 37 weeks sometimes babies are delivered via C-section early “either deliberately or because of confusion about the fetus's exact age.”

So if you're going to have a baby, get some insurance, stop smoking, reschedule that C-section and move to Vermont.

Via: Salon/AP

Weekly Check-Up: Pain Relief For Preemies

Kelly Mills — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:32:00 GMT

Parents and nurses report that one of the hardest things about having a premature baby in neonatal intensive care is the number of invasive and painful medical procedures the babies have to endure. However, a new study has one method for easing some of that preemie pain, and it's pretty simple and cost-effective, if you ask me.

So what's the miracle way to soothe the littlest infants? Being cuddled tightly against mom's bare skin. Doesn't that sound nice? I think I'm regressing just thinking about it. Anyhow, the cuddling, known as "kangaroo mother care," had been shown in past studies to help older infants recover from pain, but preemies had not yet been studied. The researchers found that premature infants who got kangaroo mother care before and after a heel lance procedure recovered in about a minute and a half, while babies placed in incubators were still suffering more than three minutes after the procedure. This delay could have an impact on preterm baby health, according to the researchers. Plus, um, if it's at all feasible, how can you go wrong with a good snuggle?

Maternity Leave and Sick Newborns

Madeline Holler — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:03:00 GMT

Here's the Sophie's Choice of parental leave: use up all your leave time to be with your preemie newborns at the hospital or save it for after they get home?

A federal employee in Washington, D.C., had to make that decision and wound up going back to work two weeks (two weeks!) after giving birth.

Going without pay, which she can under the Family Medical Leave Act, wasn't an option, as it isn't for many families.

The mother's story comes up as an example of how inadequate family leave for federal employees is. This mother had saved up all her sick and vacation days for maternity leave. But when the babies were born early and had to spend time at the hospital, she had to use those days carefully and make the tough choice to return to work two weeks after giving birth. A N.Y. congresswoman is working to get federal employees eight weeks of paid paternity leave.

From the Washingtonpost.com

Too often, federal employees are forced to choose between their paycheck and their new child, said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), vice chairman of the joint committee, noting that "even the best-prepared workers face difficult choices when children need their care."

We all know the U.S. is painfully behind in terms of family and maternity leave. So how would you have used the days, particularly if going without pay isn't an option?

Preemie Catches on Fire

Madeline Holler — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:59:00 GMT

This is one of those stories where the sensible side of your brain reminds you that it's a rare tragedy, most likely won't happen to your child, you're safe, you're safe, you're safe. The crazy side of your brain, though, thinks you and yours are surely the next victim.

In a Minnesota hospital, a baby born three weeks early, was wearing an oxygen hood -- a device that fits over the face and supplies extra oxygen -- when something caused a fire to ignite. Nurses immediately put out the fire, but the tiny infant was burned. He is in critical but stable condition in a hospital burn unit.

Dr. Leslie Smith said the infant will probably survive. But he suffered second- and third-degree burns over nearly a fifth of his body, including his head, shoulders, part of his face and the tops of his hands, Smith said.

"This is our first experience with burns at this age," said Dr. George Peltier, a plastic surgeon at the burn center.

Doctors say the boy, who weighs 8 pounds and was just 12 hours old when the fire burned him, will have use of his hands and fingers and he shoud have a normal life. The family's lawyers say they are focusing on their little boy and have not yet considered suing.

The lawyer delivered this kicker, when saying the family was coping as best they could:

"This is a mother who's never held her son, who's not allowed to touch her son."

From 3.5 Lb. Preemie to 268 Lb. Superstar

MetroDad — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:49:00 GMT

From the sports world comes this profile in the NY Times about Texas A&M tailback Jorvorskie Lane. Born more than a month premature, he weighed under four pounds at birth and because his heart and lungs were not fully developed, he was hospitalized for the first several weeks of his life. Relatives say he was so small that they could hold him in the palm of their hand!

Now, Lane (nicknamed "The J-Train") has blossomed into one of the nation's top college football players. At his heaviest last season, Lane weighed 282 pounds. With the season opener five weeks away, Lane now weighs 268 pounds. However, despite his size, he is considered one of the best athletes in college football. He's fast nimble, and athletic. While in junior high, Lane weighed 125 pounds and wanted to be the next Michael Jordan but he hit a growth spurt and started adding weight quickly. As a high school freshman, he weighed 230 pounds.

I know doctors always tell parents with preemies not to worry because their children will eventually catch up in size and weight. I guess the J-Train proves that it's true!

Trading Spaces: Nurses Try "Preemie For a Day"

Karen Murphy — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 23:17:00 GMT

Ever wonder what it's like to be a tiny, vulnerable newborn? Some nurses in Illinois are finding out with an innovative new program that allows them to experience some of the abrupt changes that take place for the tiniest babies in the moments after their birth. The nurses are learning to better simulate the soothing world of the womb for preemies in the days following their birth so that they can weather the transition from a warm and relatively quiet uterus to the bustling world of the NICU. Nurses drink from bottles and suck on pacifiers after having lain in a fetal position to simulate some of the sensory input a preemie experiences. (I am wondering if there aren't some nutjobs out there who would pay serious money to see this?)

This sounds like a good attempt and is probably the best we can really do to simulate a baby's experience but I have to wonder if it is even possible to remotely understand everything that's going on within a tiny baby during those days.