My Preemie's First Year

A standard pregnancy length is 40 weeks. Approximately 1 in 10 babies are born prematurely, which is defined as a live birth before 37 weeks gestation. 15% of those preterm births are before reaching 34 weeks. It is the number one cause of death in infants. Cruz being born at 27 weeks 5 days puts him in the category of extremely premature, which is anything less than 28 weeks. For babies born at 27 weeks gestation, an estimated 12% won’t make it to their first birthday. Of the 88% that do, more than 50% will have a life long disability. 10% will be severe, 10% moderate and 35% will have a mild disability. These disabilities can range from cerebral palsy to learning or cognitive disabilities to hearing or vision problems.

There was a time when we did not know if Cruz would get to celebrate his first birthday. The magic of his first year can be summed up in no better way than by sharing the video I created for him to honour this huge milestone.