21 March 2013

To Have a Preemie or to Not Have a Preemie...

This is a question I have received a lot regarding my current pregnancy, "Are you expecting a preemie again?" or something to that effect.  The answer is a resounding NO, however that would have been the same answer I would have given the day I went into labor with Samuel!  So the answer is, no, we are not expecting another preemie, but you just never really know.  At this point though we have NO reason to anticipate a preemie.  Here's maybe a little more detailed explanation:

When I went to my OB history appointment they ask us a ton of health history questions regarding both sides of the family and of ourselves, including past pregnancies.  One question that I was never asked was if my family had a history of preemies.  We would get asked if we had a history of high-blood pressure, heart attacks, asthma, iron deficiencies, well, really anything health related, but not preemies.

This is because sometimes preemies can seem totally random with no clear reason for why a person had a preemie.  That is the case for us with Samuel and actually for Ben when he was born!  My husband was born 2 months premature and if you asked his parents, they were never given a reason why.  In fact, as the oldest of 3, his brothers came pretty much on their due dates or after their due dates.  We think (as opposed to know) Samuel was 3 months premature because his blood work showed that he had an infection (I had no infection, just him) and it is not uncommon for Mom's body to go into labor to rid itself of the infection.  That is why we think he was early, but again we don't really know for sure.

There are a lot of things that can lead to premature birth when it comes to the health of the mother.  My husband being early could have dealt with something his Mom was dealing with (but I am definitely not saying she was, just speculating), but what happens with her body does not have impact on what happens with my body, because I got mine from my family, not my husband's.  I do have a cousin that was born 3 months early, but again her Mother is not blood relation (married to my blood Uncle), so my cousin being early also has no impact on family health history (and in fact, I don't know why she was early either, or if they even know...).

So Samuel being born early is not a connection to his Dad being born early and also did not necessarily deal with any complications in the pregnancy (which we had none that we know of until I went into labor, which that would be considered a major complication I think!).  Sometimes preemies happen to the least likely candidate and even if a person is at risk for premature labor, no one actually thinks it could happen to them.

I'm not trying to scare anyone (as most pregnancies end completely normally at roughly 40 weeks), just letting you know some of the facts behind what causes premature births.  Sometimes we know why and sometimes we don't.  At this point in this pregnancy (and we're at 17 weeks today) we have no reason to believe that we will have another preemie.  Only time will tell if that will be true or not, but for now I'm not going to worry about something that might happen.  Besides if we have another preemie, at least I kind of know what I'm in for in the NICU (though each preemie can have a vastly different experience in the NICU depending on their own struggles and issues) and I know that the NICU staff at our hospital is first rate and I would be happy to know that they would be taking care another one of my babies.  Until that happens, I'm just going to plan on a long hot summer until August 29th for this Momma!

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