Aren't Premies Cute!

I hear the story from my parents a lot.  It was 1978 and I decided to come into the world early.  I was 5 weeks early and I was rushed from Petersburg, VA to Richmond, VA.  According to my parents, I only had a 50% chance of survival.  That was 1978 and things sure have changed for the better.

Just a few weeks ago my sister had her second child and I became an uncle to a beautiful new life.  The journey for this little guy was tough.   He decided that the world needed to see him early and he was born at 33.5 weeks.  He is still in the NICU, but is doing awesome and I have no doubt he will be coming home sooner than we think.

Oakley Wright 3 lb 8 oz.

I got to visit Oakley in the NICU and was amazed at all the babies that were in those special pods.   I saw a glimpse of those tiny little lives.  All of those new babies and new gene combinations that each have have so much potential.  But they were so tiny!  I thought back to my beginnings and wondered how things had changed since 1978.   I started looking at the science and I am glad that when it comes to premature babies we are in 2015.

Oakley was 6.5 weeks early and was well developed. With today's medicine he was put in NICU pod G.  There are pods A, B, C, D, E, and F as well and the babies get smaller and need even more care as you work back up towards A.  So that just shows that while 33.5 weeks sounds early, babies born this early are in relatively good shape the majority of the time.  The chart below shows that a baby born at 24 weeks has a 50% chance of survival so this is when things can get dicey.  In perspective though, 24 week babies have a 50% chance of survival, while in 1978 I was at 50% at only 5 week early.  That is awesome medical progression!

"Prenatal development table" by Mikael Häggström.Häggström, Mikael. "Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014". Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. ISSN 20018762.  

After some digging I found an article showing differences in very premature babies in 1995 vs 2006.   One finding was that "survival to discharge from hospital for all admitted babies born between 22 and 25 weeks’ gestation increased from 40% (266/666) in 1995 to 53% (593/1115) in 2006, an increase of 13% (95% confidence interval 8% to 18%).
Short term outcomes after extreme preterm birth in England: comparison of two birth cohorts in 1995 and 2006 (the EPICure studies)


Another paper showed how far medical treatment has come since 1935 in the United States.  Just one highlight shows "the infant mortality rate in the United States showed a consistently downward trend between 1935 and 2000, with the rate declining from 55.7 per 1,000 live births in 1935 to 6.9 in 2000, at an impressive pace of 3.1% per year."  That increase in babies that get to go home with their family is awesome to see.
Infant Mortality in the United States, 1935-2007

Infants have a better chance now than they did even decades ago in the United States and other developed countries.  There have obviously been some advances in medical treatment.  NICU units and focused training have put infants in great hands.  However, in my opinion, one of the greatest factors is education.  It is amazing how we change our behaviors when we take the time to get the facts and understand all the issues.  So in a way this story is a plug for GMOs as well.  Finding the truth and reacting to that truth can change how we act.   In the case of infants, our culture is better educated on things like SIDS, prenatal care, dangers of smoking during pregnancy, the benefits of breastfeeding, etc.  There is no doubt that what we have done with this knowledge has decreased infant mortality and is a great example of why knowledge is one of the most powerful resources in humankind's hands.

For all those people who have put knowledge in the hands of doctors, nurses, mothers and dads, thank you.  Because of you we have many more babies that transform our world and I have a new nephew to spoil.