Parents of premature babies gathered at Groote Schuur Hospital (GHS) this morning to share their experiences as part of World Prematurity Day, celebrated today.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated 15 million babies are born too early every year.
That is more than one in 10 babies.
A baby is considered premature if he or she weighs less than 2500 grams.
And Groote Schuur welcomes about 500 premature babies annually.
First-time mother Yamkela Molose (23) gave birth to triplets (two boys and one girl) on Tuesday 11 October.
The triplets Onjengawe, Akekho and Nkosi weighed 1390g, 1650g and 910g respectively at birth.
Molose and two of the babies have been discharged while Nkosi is still in an incubator. He now weighs 1530g.
“I am happy. The nurses are good and supportive. They help me with the babies,” she tells People’s Post.
Sr Melony Williams, operational manager at the hospital’s premature ward, says the most challenging task is when they must relay bad news to the parents.
“When the baby does not make it, we gave the difficult task of sharing that news with the mother. That is never easy.”
She explains that during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic they had to show dads away because only the mother and baby were allowed to be in the ward.
Angelique le Roux gave birth to a premature baby 11 years ago. She explains that she had a difficult pregnancy which led to her giving birth to Gabriel (11) at 27 weeks.
The mother adds: “But it is now 11 years later, and my boy is too clever and too cheeky for his age.”
