When Tommy was born in 1994, we had no idea that babies born so early and so small could survive, or that if they did that they could escape handicaps or other problems. Part of our education was looking at pictures that were posted in the hallway outside the NICU, showing the progress of various NICU graduates. We took hope from those pictures – and our goal in building this Web site was to provide that same hope to others in similar situations.
Over time, the site evolved to allow us to share and support others going through an NICU experience. Our time with a baby in the NICU was the worst experience of our adult lives, and the fact that we went through if and moved on seems comforting to others.
Our intention is to keep this site going as long as people still visit it and tell us it helps them. We don't get nearly as many visitors as we use to - but that's a good thing as it means there are a lot of other resources to be found that didn't exist when we started the site in 1995.
This is not a medical site, we are simply parents that had a preemie. We use to have pages of links for the days when it was difficult to find things on the Internet. Today, Google and other search engines do a far better job of pointing you at preemie resources than we could do here
Thomas was born at 25-2/7 weeks according to his medical records. He was what is known as a "25 weeker" because he born at 25 weeks gestation (a normal pregnancy lasts approximately 40 weeks).
Not really. There were spotting episodes at various points in the pregnancy – the first at 6 weeks. However, there are apparently several reasons for spotting, and we have been assured that most people who have spotting will not have a premature delivery
A medical site could provide better information on whether or not his story and outcome are typical. Our reading as parents suggest that his outcome is quite common even for a micro-preemie. However, his stay in the NICU was more problem free than many others we are aware of – we don’t want to gloss over the fact that premature babies, especially the micro-preemies, can have serious problems during and after their time in the NICU.
Jaundice, RDS, BPD, ROP, various infections, a grade 1 interventricular hemorrhage (brain bleed) and various other things related to his prematurity – it’s been a while, so I’m sure I’m missing a few things. We are sure the treatment and outcomes on these and others is different now than it was in 1994
We don't believe so. He was in the National Honor Society in high school and is currently a successful college student.