Wednesday, November 17 is World Prematurity Day - highlighting an issue people may know little about unless they or their family have been affected by it. Margaret Martin, a great-grandmother living in Ottery St Mary, has experienced it in her family, and has written this article for the Herald to raise local awareness.

Here are a couple of questions relating to prematurity. Two years ago I would not have known the answers, but then my sixth granddaughter, Anela, was born.

1 - How many babies are born prematurely in the UK each year?

Have a guess. Is it 250, 700, or 1,000? It is in fact none of these. Bliss, the leading UK charity supporting babies born prematurely, gives the following statistics on its website ‘We estimate that around 60,000 babies are born prematurely in the UK every year. This means that 1 in every 13 babies born in the UK will be born premature (before 37 weeks of pregnancy).’ Globally, it’s as high as 1 in 10.

2 - How early can a baby be born and still survive?

According to Guinness World Records, the most premature baby to survive was born in July 2020 in Alabama, USA, at a gestational age of 21 weeks 1 day or 148 days, making him 132 days premature.  He had a one per cent chance of survival at the best.

My granddaughter, Anela, was born in 2020 at 24 weeks, weighing in at 725gms - much less than a bag of sugar. It took her a long time to reach a kilo (2.2 pounds). People tend not to know much about prematurity if they’ve had no experience of it in the family or with friends. I for one was well over 70 before I had any idea of the problems involved. I naively assumed that such babies were put in incubators and taken out when done. I wish it were so. One in ten premature babies will have a permanent disability such as lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness, especially babies born before 26 weeks or weighing less than 750gms. These very tiny babies are known as micro-preemies and life is a tough journey for them.

In September this year my daughter Amy, Anela’s mum, wrote this in her blog on Facebook.

‘Today is a day of celebration in our household, for after two long years our daughter has finally been discharged from neonatal care. Born at just 24 weeks, she spent 150 days in 4 different hospitals before coming home. She battled metabolic bone disease, chronic lung disease and meningitis.’

At the moment this little girl shows no sign of any problems - she is a strong, joyful little barrel of mischief with a will to achieve. But as a family we have learnt to live with uncertainty. For us it is always ‘at the moment’ as some problems don’t show up until some years later. Prematurity is about enduring uncertainty, the biggest question being ‘how long for?’ It could be hours, days, months or years, and for some it is a lifetime.

There are simple ways you can help families in a similar position. Most preemies are very vulnerable when discharged from hospital and have to stay weeks or months on ‘home oxygen’ being shielded from germs. An offer of help or a gift of a cake could mean so much to a family in that situation. Knitted baby clothes are also very welcome, but they need to be more the size of dolls’ clothes rather than the usual 0 to 6 months. Special care baby units and neonatal intensive care units have support groups which can be contacted with offers of help.

If readers are interested in learning more about prematurity, my daughter, Amy Brett, keeps a blog ‘lifeofapreemiemum.com’. A quote from this blog sums things up well:

‘Prematurity is vulnerability, fragility, potential transience and the strength and endurance of a warrior.’