Women share tales of raising babies born prematurely
At 19, premature-born Diana still has milk teeth
Lesego Pitse of Morwa village in the Kgatleng District says it is not easy having a premature baby. It requires the new mother to be emotionally strong and ready to breathe life into their preemie baby.
She gave birth to baby Masa Tlotlo Pitse after being pregnant for only six months. The baby at the time weighed 565 grams.
She remembers how the baby was so tiny and had tubes hooked all over her little body. “It was scary, I did not know how to hold her, she was so tiny,” Pitse said.
Now and after two years, baby Masa is a bouncing baby girl.
Pitse had to spend seven months at Princess Marina Hospital (PMH), where she had to be patient and listen to all the doctor’s instructions. All she wanted was to eventually go home with her baby.
When she got discharged, Masa was struggling to breathe and was given machines to take home and instructed to keep her surroundings clean at all times.
She was always holding the baby to her chest, practicing what is known as Kangaroo Mother care. It was not easy but she had to teach the family about living with a preterm baby.
Lentle Tshipana on the other hand gave birth last month and she has been in the hospital ever since then. Her water broke on the 19th September and she was referred to Marina hospital on the 6th of October where she gave birth.
“I had complications, I was in labour pains for two days and during that time, I was in severe pain, doctors did not know what was happening. Little did I know that my child was changing position, her head moved up and legs went down.
“I was taken to theatre and they were readying me for operation. While busy preparing to take me for operation, I excused myself to go to the bathroom.
“But when I stood, I realised it was not the bathroom I needed - the baby was coming out. When they checked, her legs were coming out and they quickly assisted me to give birth.
“The process did not take three minutes and I was done. They quickly took the baby away and I only saw him after eight hours,” Tshipana recalled.
Back in the ward, new mothers were sleeping next to their babies while she returned empty-handed.
Hours passed and when she was finally taken to her baby, she realised that she was unable to breathe properly, nurses told her that the baby’s intestines could not hold anything and if fed, they would burst.
“I panicked when I saw her. Sometimes she went for hours without eating, we tried taking her out of the ventilator and put her in an oxygen mask but it was too early, she struggled and we took each day as it came.
“But as I speak now, the baby has been out of an oxygen mask for three days.”
The baby, Mpho, had a heart problem, doctors said there was a hole in her heart which might require surgery. I cried, I was losing hope but this week, I was told that the hole in her heart has disappeared. I now sleep with my child and believe we will be discharged from the hospital soon.”
Tshipana advises women that having a preterm baby is not the end of the world. It happens to anyone and thus, they should not judge.
“Crying is not a solution because the more they cry, the more their babies will get depressed.”
Diana Marazi (19) said she was born a premature baby. “I was born at six months weighing 1.53kg. And during my time, there were no incubators, so my mother says she used the Kangaroo method, I spent 21 days on her chest and we left the hospital when I was weighing 2.5kg. She continued with Kangaroo for six-months and breast-fed me for two years. My mother says some did not believe that I would survive but here I am. We are normal babies the only thing is that we grow very slowly. At 19, I still have milk teeth,” Marazi said.