A number of Bollywood mums are publicly sharing about the challenges and joys that they and their families have faced through welcoming babies who were born prematurely.
Long stays in neonatal intensive care unit
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, wife of singer Nick Jonas, shared about their daughter Malti Marie, born in January 2022. The little girl had to spend over 100 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before finally being well enough to go home.
Babies who are born prematurely or sick need specialist care to help them survive. This usually involves expert support to help the babies feed and breathe properly so that they can grow and develop.
Every moment is “precious and perfect”
Priyanka spoke from the heart about what her experiences with Malti had taught her. She said “what becomes abundantly clear, in retrospect, is how precious and perfect every moment is”.
Celina Jaitley also opened up about her recent experiences. The 41-year-old actress spoke about the pain of losing a twin during pregnancy in 2017. She went into labour two months early and her surviving baby was taken to the NICU where he was treated for three months.
In a raw and honest Instagram post, she revealed the emotional rollercoaster and challenges of losing one baby whilst also fearing constantly for the life of the other.
Sharing a message of hope
Reaching out to others who may be feeling the same way, Celina listed the many emotions that she had to deal with as she watched her little twin boy fight for survival, “feelings of frustration, intense sadness, nervousness, disappointment, guilt, anger, love overwhelmed us too”, she wrote.
She also sent an encouraging message of hope to those in similar situations. “Remember: Impossible odds set the stage for incredible miracles. Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it”, she offered, in an inspiring end to her Instagram post.
Innovative care to help sick and premature babies
Research is taking place into discovering yet more ways to support babies who are born premature or sick. Encouragingly, this means that the prospects for such babies are improving all the time.
A study, ‘Mortality, In-Hospital Morbidity, Care Practices, and 2-Year Outcomes for Extremely Preterm Infants in the US, 2013-2018’, by Dr Edward F Bell of the University of Iowa, found that from 2013 to 2018, with infants born between 22 and 28 weeks gestation, “survival to discharge occurred in 78.3% and was significantly improved compared with a historical rate of 76.0% among infants born in 2008-2012”.
The study, which took place between 2013 and 2018, assessed 10,877 infants born between 22 and 28 weeks gestation in 19 academic medical centres across the US.
This means that almost four out of five extremely prematurely born babies survived and were able to be assessed at 22-26 months corrected age (22-26 months from their due date) for a number of health and functional outcomes.
Call to “cherish the value of every person”
Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said “These stories offer hope and inspiration to parents who are facing painful challenges as they care for their sick and premature babies”.
“It is so important to remind ourselves of how precious every moment of life is and to cherish the value of every person, no matter how small or unwell they may be”.
