Increasingly premature: "It's hard, because you think it won't happen to you"

• ELENA QUESADA TORRES

  @elenaqtorres

Updated on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - 16:45

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Without looking up from her little one, Sonia Tomé, a new mother, lowers her mask to give Ángel, her tiny, low-weight baby a kiss.

He, who marked 2.5 kilos on the scale at birth, is not considered

, since he remained in his mother's placenta until week 39.

Still, he is with his proud mother in the recently renovated

(NICU) of the Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid.

And, as indicated by María Teresa Moral Pumarega, neonatologist and section chief in the Neonatology service at this center, "birth weight and gestational age are important".

Neonatology Intensive Care Unit Javier Barbancho

Specifically, babies who are delivered below 37 weeks of gestation, and large premature babies, those who weigh below 1,500 grams are considered premature. So, at present, of what are large premature infants it is accounted for

.

However, as in Ángel's case, he can also be admitted to the NICU due to

, or low

sugar as it is popularly known, and being underweight.

"It's hard, because you think it won't happen to you. When you get pregnant you think it won't touch you. Also, you have to feel grateful that your child is still with you and that it will be a few days or a few weeks, but at some point you will take it home. My experience with the situation in general is a reality check ", confesses Sonia Tomé.

Medical team caring for a newborn with his parents.Javier Barbancho

And he adds: "It makes you more human, it's a

that makes you realize that it can touch you too." Erika Bresnan, who is the mother of a premature girl, Almudena, who was born on November 13 of this year, just four days before designated Premature Babies Day, comments: "Suddenly those 5 days (entered the day 9) They were the longest and at the same time the shortest of our lives, we were very scared. Because in the end you are facing a childbirth that you are not expecting ".

Although he does not hesitate to point out: "But you see the professionalism that these toilets have. You see how these people give themselves up, you see that whatever happens they will always do everything one hundred percent and that either for better or for worse, they They have given everything, so that also transmits a lot of tranquility to us ".

And you may wonder ... what are the

why a baby is born premature?

Sonia Tomé with her son Ángel. Press Service of the Hospital 12 de Octubre.

"Actually in the first world because it is because the maternal age in which mothers have their first child is increasingly higher. The incorporation of women to work, as well as to the world of work is increasingly delayed, and that makes you may have more

. On the other hand, it also influences the fact of having access to all assisted reproductive techniques, and twin pregnancies in which there is a greater risk of fetal-fetal transfusion that may have problems in babies. And then in Third World countries or in developing countries, prematurity also increases ", explains Dr. Moral Pumarega. And she clarifies:" It is not for these causes, but because in general it is also associated with less maternal infections. controlled. These can range from HIV to malnutrition to poverty, even to very young adolescent pregnancies. "

In addition, this specialist explains: "It is true that pregnancy is its

If a woman is too young, there are added risks for her and for her baby. And if a woman is also very old, that is, she is very old. Well, it also has risks. "

"There is an optimal time", sentence.

Decoration in the Premature Unit Javier Barbancho

And can you get something

of this whole experience?

"The truth is that from the moment you enter the entire medical team that attends you, from the emergency room to the operating room, there are no words for how they treat you and the closeness and humanity that you need to feel right now. It is a I am proud to know that all this is public ", highlights Sonia Tomé.

"I am left with the support of the people who love us, feeling so protected", Erika Bresnan sentenced.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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