Cape Town - When four-year-old Joshua Rohner was born at the Netcare Blaauwberg Hospital, there was great concern he might not survive the ordeal of being born prematurely as his twin brother died despite efforts by doctors.
Joshua was born extremely prematurely, at just under 24 weeks, weighing just 500g – the weight of a block of butter. He spent the first three months of his life in the neonatal intensive-care unit.
Speaking ahead of Pregnancy Awareness Week, which kicked off on Wednesday and ends on February 16, Joshua’s mother, Amanda Rohner, said her son is a healthy boy who has boundless energy and enjoys karate.
“He is a wonderful little miracle and such a character. He is obsessed with the music of André Rieu, Abba and Kurt Darren. He is also proving quite the little sportsman, although I don’t know where he gets that from because neither of his parents are sporty,” said Rohner.
The Department of Health uses Pregnancy Awareness Week to strengthen pregnancy education and stress important issues that promote healthy pregnancy and safe motherhood. It encourages women to start attending antenatal care as soon as they suspect that they are pregnant and certainly within their first trimester.
According to the World Health Organisation, about 15 million babies globally are born prematurely every year, of whom 1 million die due to complications. In South Africa, an estimated one in seven babies are born prematurely.
Rohner said the whole experience was extremely traumatic and bitter-sweet.
“We lost Joshua’s twin brother but we are so grateful that Joshua survived. This is in no small part due to the expert care he received from neonatologist Dr Ricky Dippenaar and his team, and we consider ourselves to be exceptionally fortunate to have been referred to him,” she said.
She advised pregnant women to make sure that they go for regular check-ups and, as far as possible, have the necessary expertise close to hand should something go wrong with the pregnancy.
Rohner said while women may feel great during pregnancy, there was always a possibility that one could develop some form of complication.
“I would therefore recommend that moms try to ensure that they carefully choose their obstetrician as well as the facility where they will give birth,” she said.
Dippenaar said tragically some “micro-prem” babies were too vulnerable to survive, but modern medicine was increasingly giving them a fighting chance at survival.
Cape Times