November is Premature Birth Awareness month. I will always be passionate about premature birth awareness. It's also strangely fitting it's this month, since it was a November nine years ago that I found out I was pregnant with my twins. I actually didn't know it was twins at the time, or know what a scary, intense time was about to be our pregnancy journey. Looking back, I … [Read more...]
Scars: When They Start to Fade
Scars Scars on our bodies can come from many different places. They can be a sign of past trauma from an accident, an injury, or in my case, even giving birth. I was sitting with the twins the other day when the topic of scars came up. It's not a typical thing to discuss with children, but the twins didn't have a typical birth or newborn period. Each had a surgery in the … [Read more...]
PTSD: A Very Real Complication of Premature Birth
PTSD The term PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a condition people associate with experiences in the military or surviving a catastrophic life-experience, like a natural disaster or an accident. It is not always associated with pregnancy, birth, and prematurity, but it is a very real condition for women who experience those life-changing events. Worrying every day of … [Read more...]
World Prematurity Day 2017: Why I’m Grateful
World Prematurity Day 2017 Today is a very special day. It is a day we honor all those babies born way too soon and very sick. The littlest fighters. Our heroes. Miracle babies. Today is World Prematurity Day 2017. A Few Facts 1 in 10 babies are born premature each year. These babies are born anytime before a full-term birth of 38 weeks. World … [Read more...]
An Emergency C-Section and a Premature Birth
Emergency C-Section I had my tonsils removed when I was 19. Before that, the only thing close to surgery was when I got my wisdom teeth removed at age 17. I'd only stayed overnight in a hospital one time before my emergency c-section. Scared and alone, with the exception of those 2 small babies in my belly, I had my first major surgery. While my life wasn't in danger, It … [Read more...]