A Mother Shares Her Experience With Her Premature Son for National Prematurity Awareness Month

11/16/2012 (Updated 7:02:30 PM)

November is National Prematurity Awareness Month and UHS, Mother and Babies Perinatal Network, and March of Dimes wants to make sure every woman has a healthy pregnancy.
 
Early birth disrupts a baby's development in the womb and preemies often require specialized health care and are more susceptible to a host of respiratory problems.  Heather Howard, mother of a preemie, describes her experience when her son was born at just 30 weeks.

"I fed him through a feeding tube for the first time a month after he was born and with a bottle a week or two after that.  Unless you've been through it, no one can describe what it's like to see your child with tubes and wires coming out of every possible area.  What it's like to hear the alarm on his monitor sound 10-20 times a day because he had stopped breathing yet again," said Howard.
 
Howard's son Blake is now a healthy, happy little boy who will turn 3 in February.  Guidelines were released on Thursday for doctors and parents as a road map for the healthcare of premature babies.  Those guidelines can be found on the National Perinatal website.