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Lindsey was pregnant for just 24 weeks and four days when she gave birth to tiny one-pound, 10-ounce Ira about 15 weeks ahead of schedule in April 2014. After a year in the hospital, Ira is finally nearly ready to go home.
At first, Lindsey's pregnancy seemed normal, but then she began bleeding at 12 weeks. At 17 weeks, her water ruptured without her knowing. Ira would soon be on his way.
It's been a long road for Lindsey, her husband Evan, and the couple's other two children.
"I feel like I have two homes," Lindsey said. "I have my home at the hospital and then my real home. You feel like you're splitting your time in half. And wherever I am I feel like I'm missing a part of my family because we're rarely all together."
Why it happens and how to decrease chances
[Bradley Yoder](<http://www.ksl.com/ad_logger/ad_logger.php? location=http://healthcare.utah.edu/fad/mddetail.php?physicianID=u0504992&sponsor=UUHCBradley target=_blank rel=>), Medical Director of the University of Utah Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit and a Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine, said 1 in 9 babies are born early (prior to 37 weeks gestation) in the U.S. One major health problem "preemies" face is that their lungs aren't mature yet.
"The more preterm they are, the less developed their lungs are," Yoder said. "They may have problems keeping the lungs inflated with air so their lungs will tend to collapse more easily, and they'll have distress."
Babies can be born early for a variety of reasons. Common causes include an underlying infection in the mother's system, a placenta not doing its job, and uncontrolled hypertension in the mother, Yoder said.
Oftentimes, preterm birth can't be prevented. But Yoder said there are ways to decrease the chances.
"The first thing to do is space out pregnancies," Yoder said. "We know the risk for preterm pregnancy increases if they get pregnant within six to nine months of the completion of the prior pregnancy."
Women with a prior preterm pregnancy are also at greater risk. Yoder recommends talking with an obstetrician or maternal fetal medicine specialist to discuss the possibility of taking 17-hydroxyprogesterone, a medication that extends pregnancy.
Yoder also emphasized the importance of seeking medical care early in a pregnancy so problems that arise can potentially be treated.
Kangaroo care
Preterm birth can be extremely difficult on parents — and it's not just the fear of wondering if your child will live or die.
"If the baby doesn't come home at the normal time and needs to stay in the hospital, there can be bonding issues," Yoder said.
One way parents can build a bond with their premature infants is through "kangaroo care" or skin-to-skin care, Yoder said.
No pouch is required. A parent removes his or her shirt, and the baby is placed directly on the skin of the parent's chest beneath a gown as a nurse monitors heart rate and oxygen levels.
"We know that it improves how babies do," Yoder said. "Babies will typically breathe better, they'll grow better, and they'll typically go home earlier. We think it's that tactile skin-to-skin touching that's so important."
Lindsey and Evan did kangaroo care with Ira, taking turns holding the little guy against their hearts.
"We tried to do it every time we came up and saw him until he got bigger," Lindsey said.
Don't be shy, reach out
Ira, now a 17-pounder, seems to be doing a little better each day. His parents know he will face lung problems throughout his life, but they're just happy to be bringing him home.
"It's been hard to have a baby in the hospital for so long, but at the same time, there was such a small chance of him even surviving that I feel like it's been an amazing miracle to watch him grow and to see all the things that they can do now at the hospital to help these babies not just survive but thrive," Lindsey said.
The biggest thing that has helped Lindsey and her family throughout this difficult year is the support of friends and others who have gone through a similar experience.
"I even had a friend I hadn't seen or talked with in 15 years message me on Facebook and say ‘Hey, this is what it was like for us' and ‘This is what we did,'" Lindsey said. "You just don't know from one day to the next what's going to happen so to have that support was really kind of the thing that helped me get through it more than anything."
