Story of a Preterm Baby: Life at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

By Aamani Puli - Updated: February 3, 2022

Every pregnant woman wishes to give birth to a healthy child. But what if your baby is taken away after birth? This is my story about giving birth to a premature child who was taken away from me as she was born in 32 weeks.

After birth, my child was immediately shifted to the NICU. On the first two days, she was breathing through oxygen. Since she was a preterm baby, her lungs were not mature. However, the good sign was my baby cried as soon as she was born. My heart wrenched when I saw her frail self being taken away for care.

Initially, she was given only 1ml of milk through a pipe and increased the intake gradually. I felt so happy that my baby was drinking milk and gaining weight. Every intake is a milestone for my baby and a happy moment for me. The milk given to preterm babies is breastmilk; if the mother is not lactating, donor milk will be given to the baby. Breastmilk has many nutritional values and helps in the growth of a baby. A premie needs to be fed with breast milk.

After a few days, she was fed milk from a bottle. My baby is a champ; she learned how to instantly take milk from a bottle. I was not a champ like my baby; it was hard for me. I went into depression as I couldn’t feed my baby properly. However, depression after delivery is most common in mothers. But for me, it was intense as my baby was kept away from me.

After 24 ml milk feeding and weight gain of 1.88kg, my baby was healthy and discharged. It was a happy moment for a mother whose baby was in NICU. By God’s grace, now my baby is healthy and breastfed.

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