Roundup: Why Prematurity Must Be Addressed

Yesterday was the 8th Annual Prematurity Awareness Day, and a depressing report released shows us that the U.S. has much to do to prevent premature birth.

Via CNN:

The United States is getting a "D" grade for its preterm birth rate, even though it is improving in most states, according to the March of Dimes.

The organization released its 2010 report card on Wednesday, the eighth annual Prematurity Awareness Day.

The March of Dimes compared the U.S. and each state with the target set in "Healthy People 2010." That report is issued every decade by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The target rate for preterm births is 7.6 percent or less. There are currently no states that meet that. The current nationwide rate based on the report card is 12.3 percent.

"The reason for the 'D' is that more than half a million babies are born premature in the United States," says Jennifer Howse, the president of the March of Dimes Foundation. And premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death and many disabilities, including breathing problems, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disabilities, according to the March of Dimes.

"The United States has one of the highest rates of preterm births of industrialized countries in the world, " says Howse.

Many states announced their standing on the rankings yesterday, with Florida and Louisiana coming in at abysmal Fs, Virginia a sad D, and California a ho hum C.

But what was really missing from the news reports were the real stories of the effects of prematurity.

Stories like Baby Goat:

If I tell people that baby goat was a preemie they find it hard to believe.  It is hard to believe that my 20 month - 98+% weight, 90% height, 98+% head, daredevil, precocious, precious child was ever 4 lbs 7oz and struggling to breath.  It is baffling really the change and growth that occurs in small children.  Today you'd hardly know.

But I know.

Each moment of 46 days in the NICU are burned into my brain.  46 days where the concept of joy, fear, pain, sadness, and wonder merge into a super emotion both exilarating and exhausting.  I don't wish a preemie or a NICU experience on anyone, but whenever I meet one I know that I can relate.  I know the language, the panic and the hope of the place.

Baby goat was born at 33 weeks - 7 weeks early.  He wasn't ready to come out but my own body made it necessary.  Even so we were so lucky.  My blood pressure could be controlled long enough to give him steroids.  Baby goat hadn't stopped growing at any point.  My doctor had pre-eclampsia herself (3 times) and knew just what to watch for. 

I didn't have the birth story that anyone plans for.  Baby goat didn't have the beginning I planned for him.  1 in 8 children don't.  I didn't hold baby goat until he was 2 days old.  I know parents who had to wait even longer. 

...

It is imperative to keep supporting the research on prematurity.  It is not that long ago that baby goat and I never would have survived my pregnancy.  And there are still mothers and babies who do not.  That needs to stop.

My child is my daily miracle.  All children are whether they have his beginning or not.

Or Molly:

I didn’t get to meet you on your birthday. The doctors had to put me to sleep so you could be born safely and then I went into shock, so they gave me a sedative that made me sleep all night. I finally got to meet you today. I was really scared. The nurses took a picture of you last night so Daddy could show me what you looked like. The nurse held her hand behind you so I could see that you are small enough to fit into it.

They told me that when you were first born, you were breathing room air for a while, but by morning they were giving you some additional oxygen. Dr. Silver said you made two peeps when you came out, but Dr. Adams said you were really wailing for a while. After you were born, the doctor put in an endotracheal tube. Daddy watched the doctors give you surfactant to help you breathe. You are participating in a special study to help determine which kind of surfactant works better, natural or synthetic.

When they felt you were stable, you were transferred to the ISCU, which where they take care of very tiny babies like you. It is on the first floor (not ground floor) of the Evanston Women’s Hospital. You were placed in a transporter, which is a warmed isolette (box) that kept you warm. It had armholes on the side of it so the doctors could continue giving you oxygen along the way. They say the next 24 hours are critical.

Very tiny, red and wrinkled and so delicate. Your eyes are closed and your hands and feet seem very big. It looks like you have some blond peach fuzz and I think I’ll call you peaches.

Nearly thirteen percent of all babies are born prematurely, and that rate has increased by a third in the last three decades.  Better prenatal care is only one answer to addressing this problem, but it's one that seems to be getting further and further away from us as politicians make healthcare into a political bomb to throw instead of a right for all people in this country.

Mini Roundup:  I'm pretty much as prochoice as you can get.  But this is wrong.  Really wrong.

Follow Robin Marty on Twitter, @robinmarty