What happens when a premature baby is born?

It can be very distressing to know that you are going to deliver your baby prematurely, and perhaps not in the way you would have liked. Try to hold on to the fact that what really matters - and what the medical staff will be aiming to ensure - is the health and well-being of you and your baby.

Many premature babies are delivered by Caesarean section: this is often either because they are in distress or to protect their very soft skulls. If you know in advance that you are going to have a Caesarean, the medical staff will be able to answer your questions about this procedure.

Some mothers do deliver vaginally. In this case the labour can be faster than that of a full-term baby; because premature babies are smaller the cervix does not always have to be fully dilated for the baby to pass through. As the baby is less likely to be in the correct position for birth, with his head down, forceps may be used to protect his head from damage.

It is possible that while you are in labour, you might be transferred to a hospital with a consultant obstetric unit and a neonatal unit. If this isn’t possible, in a few cases a mother can find herself in one hospital while her baby is transferred to another with a special neonatal unit.

The special care neonatal unit

If your first visit to the special care neonatal unit is after you have given birth, you may find the technology intimidating. It can be very upsetting to see your tiny baby being fed by tubes, with lines attached to his body, and surrounded by beeping and flashing machinery. However the equipment will seem less alarming once you understand what it can do to help your baby.

In the neonatal unit:

• Ventilators will provide assistance with breathing
• Incubators will help to regulate your baby’s body temperature
• Your baby will probably be fed intravenously, perhaps with a drip, or syringe pump or infusion pump. This is because babies often can’t suck or tolerate normal foods.

The monitoring equipment which is attached to your baby means the staff can keep a close watch on his heart rate, rate and pattern of breathing, and glucose levels.

The Bliss Guide to Neonatal Equipment* can give you more detailed information on the different types of equipment you might encounter in the neonatal unit and why they are used.

It is unlikely whether anybody will be able to tell you how long your baby will be in the unit: it could be days, weeks or even months. Your baby may need special surgery or treatment for specific medical conditions, and at the beginning you might find that he lurches from crisis to crisis.

At first you may feel that you and he are living from minute to minute and hour to hour. However, once your baby is out of immediate danger and begins to make progress, there will probably be a underlying current of cautious optimism.