World Prematurity Day - Sophie's Story
•Posted on November 16 2022
Hi I’m Sophie and I work with Katie at The Little Sock Company. To help raise awareness for World Prematurity Day I am going to tell my story on having a premature baby.
My son is now 6 years old and is thriving!! He was born at 26+6 days weighing 1 pound 8 (865 grams) You never realise how important the days are until you have a premature baby. It was all a massive shock, my husband and I had no idea what we were going to be in for, it's a subject that isn’t really spoken about and that should change as with many things knowledge is power.
I was told it was going to be a matter of days, not weeks when my son would be born. I just couldn’t wrap my head around how this was going to happen. Surely it’s too soon, he's not developed yet, will he make it… they gave me steroid injections 24 hours apart to help mature his lungs which is critical and magnesium sulphate for his brain and for my heart.
My son was born via emergency C-section and I didn’t even see him when he was born. They took him straight to the SCBU (Special care baby unit). It was all very overwhelming. When I went to see him for the first time he was so tiny and didn’t even look like a baby. There were a lot of wires and tubes. I had so many questions and I was very unwell myself.
The staff that work in these amazing places really helped us to get through it and it is such amazing work they do. My son had a lot of challenges in SCBU, countless blood transfusions, various tests, oxygen machines, the list goes on and on…
It's a journey and wow it really is!! There are good days and bad days. It's really draining and when you're in it it can feel like you are never going to take your baby home which is all you want.
I am passionate about raising awareness for prematurity. It can feel very isolating and it should be spoken about as there are so many babies and now children who are truly little miracles.
My son was in hospital for 3 months and came home on oxygen for a further 3 months. When he was in hospital he had a heart operation which left him with a paralysed left vocal cord, due to this he couldn’t make much noise when he cried, as he got older the left vocal cord compensated for the right but he is still very quiet when he laughs or cries. He was very little when he came home weighing only 5 pounds 4. The perception is they come home and that’s it now this is not the case it is a journey and even when home we still had a lot to contend with every cold would end up with him on oxygen and back in hospital. With premature babies there are many complications,for us It was his breathing and he was diagnosed with chronic lung disease.
When they say it takes time for them to catch up and it roughly being 4 when they get there in every developmental aspect for us this really was the case. But he did catch up looking at him now you would never know he was born so early.
My son is my true miracle and I am eternally grateful to the doctors and nurses and medicine we have. He would not be here today without it. Raising awareness on prematurity is so vital and I really hope sharing my story helps.
We hope to be doing some premature socks soon at The Little Sock Company and our cosy socks are great for little babies as you can pop them over sleepsuits to help keep them warm and keep all those wires in place. You can find them here.
Bliss Charity is such an amazing charity and at The Little Sock Company we are so honoured to be able to raise some money to support the amazing work they do. Please see the link below for more information about the charity and the wonderful work they do. You can find out more about them here
Sophie x
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