More to Preemies than Size

Size is always a side effect of being born early, but size is not the only issue with preemies. So many people think a preemie is just a smaller newborn, but that is far from the case. There is a reason women are suppose to be pregnant for 40 weeks, and it really has little to do with the actual size of the baby. They are truly not developed yet. Sometimes, the bowels have not connected, so they cannot digest. Their heart is still working as if it was in utero, so it has extra valves that cannot close on their own because the muscles around them are too weak. The biggest thing that still needs to develop is the brain. After talking to Juliet's nurse, she gave me some disturbing facts about the brain. When thinking of a human brain, we usually see it as pink, with lots of bumps and crevasses all over. The brain of a 25 weeker however is smooth, like a shaved pear and white. This means all those connections that should be on the brain are not developed yet. This means the brain forgets to tell the baby to inhale or exhale. It forgets to keep the heart beating, or the body moving. They do not have to coordination to suck, swallow and breath in the right order. They forget to breath. These babies are not just small. They are so under developed, without the intervention of machines and nurses that watch these babies like a hawk, there is no way they would be able to survive. There is no such thing as a healthy 25 weeker. We are asking the body to do things it was never intended to do at this point, plus now it needs to develop in an environment that is not ideal for proper development. Juliet is doing wonderful, but she is not "just a tiny newborn". She is a very sick, struggling baby to just get the basic life sustaining functions down. And it will take time. But with God's grace and strength she will continue to improve every day and one day soon we will get the joy of brining her home for the first time.