Anyone have a baby born premature?

I was induced 5 weeks early with my dd. I had preeclampsia that turned to eclampisa. Very scary, but DD had the lung shots and was released from the hospital before me. I tell everyone, she is my miracle baby (she was my 7th pregnancy). She weighed 4 lbs exactly and only spent 1 night in NICU.

She just turned 5, weights 35 lbs and is healthy. I'm thankful for an amazing team of doctors at Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio. They life flighted me there and they took the best care of us.

I was a premature baby41 years ago. I was born three months early and weighed two pounds, two ounces. When I came out, the bag of waters hadn't broken, and the doctor pushed me aside and went on caring for my mom, thinking there was no way I'd be alive. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw my feet kick. I spent three months in the hospital, and I'd been kicking ever since.

Preemie care has come a long way. Back then, there were no lung shots. The oxygen in my incubator burned out my eyes, leaving me blind. The doctor told my mom not to get attached because I wouldn't live an hour. I think his warning has affected my relationship with my mom to this day; she followed his advice too well. Thank God, these days more is known about bonding and the importance of skin-to-skin contact. By the time I got out of the incubator, I didn't want to be held or touched.

Oh Ballad, you just made me cry.

31 years ago I was born 8 weeks premature. I spent my first 30 days in the NICU. When I finally did get to go home I was still attached to a bunch of machines, including an apnea one. At home I'd still sometimes forget to breathe at night.

Now I'm fully grown. For the most part normal. I'm 95% certain I have a math dyslexia (never formally diagnosed); I have asthma, being almost 100 lbs overweight could be a factor in that too though. Overall, I am and have been a very healthy, active person.

Oh, and I was 3 pounds 14 ounces. I could fit in the palm of my dad's hand (average 6'2" male).

"Oh Ballad, you just made me cry."

It's amazing to me how the doctors can save so many babies now, and because of the silver nitrate drops in their eyes, a lot of them don't lose their sight. Plus, so much more is known about feeding. One of the last things in a baby to develop is the pyloric valve between the stomach and the esophagus, so preemies often can't keep food down. My poor mom said she would spend 45 minutes trying to get me to take a few ounces, then clean me up and lay me down, and turn over an egg timer so she could do it all again an hour later. She didn't know I was blind right away, so she didn't understand why I wouldn't smile back at her, or why I flailed around and tried to get away when she picked me up. I was 16 inches long at birth, and two pounds, so I was all bony arms and legs. My dad said I looked like a Rhesus monkey. My heart goes out to all parents of preemies. It's a tough row to hoe.

DD was born at 31 weeks. She spent 4-1/2 weeks in NICU. She is a normal 6-1/2 year old now.

My son was born at 32 weeks and spent 22 days at the nicu and he's 5 months now very heathy lil boy thank god for has precious gift