Current trends and issues within premature care - What are your views and experiences?

[scottgarfitt]

Hello,

I am a 21-year-old photographer from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. In 1993 I was born premature at 8 weeks early. Prematurity is something I have never sat down and discussed with my parents. I am using my photography as a means of learning and personal exploration to gain a greater understanding of what my parents went through.

Since November last year I have been working with an organisation named SNUG in Exeter that provide a support community for parents of premature children. In turn I produced a series of portraits alongside pieces of writing by each parents looking at their journeys as well as the coming home period.

I am currently working with the parent of a child born at 23 weeks. As part of this project I am looking to gain a greater understanding of the current key issues within premature birth. I was hoping to gather some views and experiences of the current climate within premature care.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post

Scott Garfitt

Hi Scott,
Is there anything in particular you wish to know?
Care has improved a lot over time and good outcomes are much more likely now. It was probably more uncertain for your parents than it would be for parents today (on average) although it's still terrifying.
We were quite lucky, my son was born at just 36 weeks (although I had pretty much no placenta left by then) so he could breathe unaided and has no major health issues. The main worry for me is he has misses all his developmental milestones. He might be going to do these things later, but while they're a baby there's not much I can do apart from watch and wait!
We didn't get any support in hospital as we were on the postnatal ward, and no one explained to me about why he couldn't feed. A midwife did apologise to me after a week as she said no one had time to read the notes and didn't realise he was prem because he "looked normal".
Whilst we were lucky to have a 36 weeker we kind of fell down a hole where you don't get any support because they're probably going to be ok healthwise but the baby doesn't behave like a term baby either

This might give some insights. www.tommys.org/new-free-app-to-support-parents-of-premature-babies

Thank you for your help @hedwig2001 I will have a look. @WindYourBobbinUp I am trying to gain a wider understanding of issues within premature care and the medical approach towards a premature child. I am hoping that the experiences of others will provide a basis of greater understanding.

@WindYourBobbinUp and thank you for expressing your experience as I realise how personal this is.