Today there is an article in the Post about NICU babies. It details some of the challenges that premature infants face and gives a glimpse of the parents' stuggles to understand what the future may hold. It is a difficult thing to read and know that there are parents going through what we did and in some cases much more. The statistics are shocking, even though we have been there. 1 in 8 babies are born prematurely and the numbers are increasing. Every NICU in the city has been at or past capcity in the past year. Children's for one is expanding to more beds and just about the whole time we were there they over what the unit was designed for. Another statistic that is frightning is that 24 weeks is about the cutoff for babies to have a good chance of making it. Those born prior to that only have about a 10% chance for survival and thier average weight is about 1 1/2 lbs. Jack being 25 weeks and as big as he was is truly amazing. His NICU stay seems like a long time ago and I hope he never has the memory of what he went through. We continue to think and pray for all of the babies and parents that we know. We wish that none of us had to have the experience, but thank God for the nurses, doctors and technology that save these babies each day.
Here is a link to the article, but the actual paper has more pictures.
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