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Absolute beginners: Five tips for parents of premmies

November 17, 2016
Emma and Ben Caisley’s twin boys Ethan and Noah were born at 31 weeks, each weighing about 1.4kg. The family’s journey in the neonatal intensive care unit was featured in the video story, Twin Miracles. GE Reports asked Emma—one of the many eternally grateful mothers of premature babies who unintentionally become experts on NICU life—for pointers for parents whose babies are spending their first weeks, or months, in special care.


Parents Ben and Emma Caisley today with their precious (and cheeky!) boys Noah (left) and Ethan.


The sun will come out
It is a hard slog in the beginning, but it does get better. Everyone says, take every day as it comes. When you are given information, it seems overwhelming, but if you just tackle one task at a time, you’ll eventually get to the end.

Be prepared
At first I was uninformed and unaware of what doctors would hit me with. Once you become more familiar with what the specialists are going to tell you, you go in with a list of questions. It all comes down to practice, unfortunately. Then your questions get a little bit more specific!

Team up
Ben and I always tried to go into a specialist’s office together, or I’d take my mother or mother-in-law, so there were always two heads in there. I would pick up on half, and the other person would pick up on the other half.

Memory aids for a foggy time
As soon as I came out of a specialist’s appointment, I would jot down the important bits on a piece of paper, or in my phone. If Ben wasn’t there, I’d call him straight after and tell him what happened, or call a friend, to help embed it in my long-term memory.

Ask questions, chase answers
If I knew the topics we’d be talking about, I’d go in with questions. But if they’d give me new information, I would go home to process, and then if I had further questions, I’d call the specialist, or email them. You have to chase the specialists, because they are so busy, and I understand that. If they say they’ll call you back tomorrow, if they don’t call you back you’ve got to chase them up, otherwise you slip to the backlog. You’ve got to be on top of following your children’s interests ahead of everybody else.

Catch up on premmie babies Noah and Ethan and the Caisley family today (spoiler alert: the boys are now four-and-a-half years old and full of mischief!)