When Lael Perry started smoking again in the last month of her pregnancy, she knew it was wrong. The stressed out Kaitaia working mother of (then) three daughters had given up when she became pregnant but says it was a weakness that drove her to have the odd cigarette after work in the last month. “I felt terrible. I should have done something different like have some sugar or a drink of water. It was kind of like self-torture, I knew it was bad for me and baby. Further adding to the guilts, it was discovered her baby, a normal weight up until 27 weeks, had stopped growing. “I felt so bad and I do think that it was from smoking,” says the 38-year-old. Lael’s daughters are 18, 14, four and now she has Jordan, four months. But it was touch and go with her youngest. Jordan was delivered via caesarean at 31 weeks, weighing just 0.9kg (two pound) due to IUGR (Intrauterine growth restriction). She spent her first eight days in Auckland, before being transferred to SCBU in Whangarei Hospital for six weeks. “I stopped smoking the day I went into hospital and will never do it again,” says Lael, who has since become an ambassador for SUDI (sudden unexpected death in infancy). “No one’s pin-pointed it but I think smoking was the reason she was not growing.” While away in hospital, Lael’s partner and mum held it together for the other three kids in Kaitaia. “Life changed, everything changed. While I was in hospital my mum and partner would call me stressed out. Their worlds fall apart. You have to juggle a baby in the special care unit and you have to still keep control of the household but from afar.” When Lael and Jordan were finally allowed to go home at 38 weeks, via a two-day transfer stay in Kaitaia Hospital, it was “wonderful, yet scary”. “SCBU was like I was in a safe haven. She came off the monitors and I’d have to watch her all night long. The first night was exciting but scary too. I was on constant alert and no one was allowed near the baby. I just kept her on me. “My midwife said, as soon as you get home, strip off and take all baby’s clothes off and keep the skin to skin contact because you’ve got that freedom to at home and you can really bond. It was beautiful. “I only really held her once a day in hospital and just focused on her growing.” Lael is a self-confessed ‘preacher’ now when it comes to smoking. “Most of the mothers in SCBU were smoking. I said things to them all the time. We tried to make a support group and talk to each other about different things. They were all in there for different reasons but the common thing amongst about 80 per cent of the mums was they all smoked.” Lael is encouraging family members, including her partner to quit. “My partner smokes outside and now wears a smoking jacket which he takes off after. He also brushes his teeth and washes his hands before he holds the baby.” Despite being around smokers, Lael says it is not hard to stay smoke-free. “It’s not hard at all. I think it’s disgusting. Not only because of what it did to baby but it is gross and expensive.” Other changes Lael has made towards safe sleep include sleeping Jordan in a pepi-pod, which is offered to SCBU mothers and those at risk of SUDI. “I’m so glad I got it because it means I can be close to her. I wanted to sleep with her but was scared I might smother her. “I just love that I can put baby in the pepi-pod and she’s safe and warm and secure and it’s mobile. I can take the pepi-pod with me wherever I go and can always keep an eye on her and it’s just so easy.” Lael is also exclusively breastfeeding, another contributor towards safe sleep. I didn’t go through labour but luckily I had only just stopped breastfeeding my four-year-old the month before. I told her I had to stop to make the colostrum for baby Jordan. The milk had dried up but my breasts were still familiar to milk so it wasn’t hard to make the colostrum come. “I can’t say enough for the breast feeding consultants. They have the most important role. I wish they could be on the ward 24/7. I think they should have every single resource to be able to do that because the mothers in SCBU should be happy so that their milk can flow and their babies can feed. I saw actual miracles happen in the SCBU unit with the lactation consultants helping stressed out and upset mothers feeding their babies. There was this one young girl and, once it happened, her whole face and body visibly changed and she just relaxed and fell in love with her baby.” Lael says, despite the rocky start, family life is now great. “The big girls love their little sister. She is now ten pounds. It’s hard to believe she was so tiny.” Caption: Lael Perry has become an ambassador for safe sleep messages after her daughter Jordan was born at 31 weeks.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 08:07:14 +0000
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