On World Prematurity Day, a Carlow mother of twins is raising awareness of the needs and rights of premature babies and their families.
Aisling Heaton gave birth at 29 weeks to Oliver (3lbs 3oz) and Alfie (3lbs 8oz) at The Coombe Hospital in Dublin in October.
"The first time I saw them after the birth it was very scary. They had an oxygen mask, a CPAP on. They had a cannula in and lots of little monitors and things like that on. I could barely see them you know. I didn't really know what my babies looked like for a whole week," she recalled.
A premature birth is commonly defined as babies born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed.
Globally over 15 million infants are born prematurely each year: that's one in 10 babies.
In Ireland, the figure stands at around 4,500 and that equates to one baby being born prematurely every 116 minutes.
There over 800 admissions to The Coombe's neonatal intensive care unit every year due to babies being born prematurely or being born very sick.
"Being born early affects all of their body," Consultant Neonatologist Dr Anne Doolan explained.
"In a really simple way, when they're born they don't have a lot of body fat so keeping them warm is one of the biggest things we do for them. We actually wrap them in plastic to keep their body heat in.
"Then in the first few days, we usually have to support baby's breathing. We need to monitor their brain growth and development. They're particularly at risk of Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) so they will have ultrasounds done on their head looking for that.
"Their own mother's breast milk is something that is hugely important for them. It helps share mum's immune system with the baby. The parents are totally part of the healthcare team," Dr Doolan added.
Nurse Mary O'Connor is part of the Newborn Individualised Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) at The Coombe Hospital.
"Normally, I work with the parents and babies helping the parents to read their behaviour. All the different signs and gestures that they make, they all mean something. It is important to understand what they are trying to tell us," Ms O'Connor said.
Baby Alfie and Oliver have been steadily gaining weight and have reached 34 weeks gestational age.
Aisling Heaton and her partner Kallum hoped to have their twins home for Christmas.
"In that first while, you can kind of feel like why did this happen?" Aisling Heaton recalled. "Did I do something wrong?
"And so many people don't know what it's like to be in the hospital and to have premature babies and not take them home right away. But that, you know, you can still feel like their parent. And they are going to come home.
"That's why I think it's just so important to raise awareness about it," she added.
