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People’s Post
HEALTH
Purple for preemies SAMANTHA LEE-JACOBS SAMANTHA.LEE@PEOPLESPOST.CO.ZA @SAMANTHA_LEE121
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ccording to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one in 10 babies will be born prematurely world wide. With many premature babies coming into the world facing life-long challenges and lengthy hospital stays due to sometimes underdeveloped organs, celebrating the miracle of their births is observed annually on 17 November as World Prematurity Day. The first awareness day was initiated in 2008. November is also World Prematurity Awareness Month. Western Cape health minister Dr Nomafrench Mbombo says: “Raising awareness about World Preemie Day and Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) are critical. We are continuously striving to create awareness and improve the standard of KMC for newborn care at all the levels of healthcare, in all settings, within the Western Cape because KMC improves growth and reduces morbidities in low-birth-weight infants.” KMC is placing the baby on the bare chest, which promotes a strong bond between parent or carer and child. It also improves growth and reduces morbidities in low birth infants, promote increased milk production and breastfeeding success. According to the department, more than 75% of babies born prematurely can be saved with cost effective care before, during and after birth. Cost effective care include breastfeeding, KMC and hand washing (infection control). In recognition of this, this year many neonatal wards will be draped in purple, a colour that represents sensitivity and exceptionality. A premature baby is born three weeks or more before the due date and local health department officials confirm this can happen to anyone. For Melissa Naude, she had carried three babies full term, with her daughter Paula being born prematurely. “My two older children were full term. I even carried my oldest son into 41 weeks before labour was induced. When I was preg-
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Nurses and staff at neonatal wards will be clad in purple to commemorate World Premature Day premature awareness month, nant with Paula, the pregnancy was normal. I had no problems, but during a routine check up one month before, I started having serious pains and discomfort,” says Naude. “I thought it was just Braxton Hicks (contractions), or acid at first, but I knew it was not common having had two other children at the time.” Naude was in labour and birthed Paula on 18 February 2010. Because she was around five weeks premature, Paula was severely underweight and spent almost a month in hospital. Naude’s youngest child, two years later, was also carried to full term. But Paula is now fully recovered and a budding 10-year-old with no lasting health conditions. “She could fit in a shoe box when she was born and now she is so full of life and the joy
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of our lives,” says Naude. For Hannelie Louw, the premature birth of her daughter Hayley Hope was brought on by pre-eclampsia – a pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system, most often the liver and kidneys. She was born via emergency C-section at 27 weeks, in September 2016 weighing just 630g. “When we saw her face for the first time, it was love at first sight. We saw her fighting spirit and determination. This, and the amazing doctors and nurses caring for her, reassured us that her life would be saved,” says Louw. Hayley spent more than two months in an incubator in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Nicu). “I still remember the smell of the sanitiser
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and the monitors beeping around us. This soon became our world, travelling every day to see Hayley. Having to see her with all the tubes connected to her, was an ordeal. Tears ran down my face every day to see my little one like that. Her dad just picked her up once and never again because she was so tiny. Those were difficult days for us. And all that carried me through were the kangaroo mother care, praying, reading, and seeing my little girl gain weight,” says Louw. “Today, Hayley is four years old and weighs 15,8kg. She is doing well and continues to grow! We are grateful for each day with our Hayley. I would like to share with my fellow-miracle-baby parents that being the parents of a preemie means you are extra special. And after all, God doesn’t just pick anybody to witness a miracle.”
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