For new mothers the expectation of a storybook delivery is high. But it does not always happen that way. Sometimes, babies are born early. And the immediate care of your preemie takes on an approach you may not have been prepared for. Dr. Joe Matusic has some info on what you may expect.

If you are in jeopardy of delivering a premature baby, the number of weeks you are looking to make it to, is 37. A full-term pregnancy is anywhere between 37 and 40 weeks. If your baby is born sooner, at 35-weeks or earlier, they will most likely be going to the neo-natal intensive care unit, or NICU. Specialized doctors and nurses will be in charge of your baby's care at that point, not your pediatrician.

Dr. Joe Matusic, MD/Pediatrician
Those babies that go to the NICU, they often do before I ever even see the baby. I don't know the baby's been born sometimes.

So you are scared about your baby, the NICU doctors are excellent at talking to you. The nurses are excellent. They're going to walk you through everything.
This is a rare look inside the NICU at Women and Children's Hospital, where the youngest babies born, fight to survive. To help enhance existing educational resources, The March of Dimes has opened the 55th NICU Family Service Center in the country. It will help parents who are entering a new world, one they likely did not expect.

Peggy Engelkemier/Mother of Preemie Twins
I never once looked up to see there were so many parents going through what I was going through.

Katie Foster/March of Dimes
We provide parent hours which is a time for the families to get together, a time to get support from graduate NICU parents.

For parents not able to hold their babies, the NICU Family Support also offers a scholastic reading program so you can at least sit, and read to your baby.

Peggy Engelkemier/Mother
Sometimes you're even scared to look up and leave their bed side.

Katie Foster/March of Dimes
We give each family a care kit when they enter the NICU and it helps teach them about all the traumatic things they're going to see. The medical equipment, the medical terms and technology. It helps make the NICU a little less scary for them.

At the point when your baby is released from the NICU, and you're ready to go home, you'll be seeing your pediatrician immediately.

Dr. Joe Matusic
When you go home, we want to see you in a day or two. I mean very quickly after you go home from the NICU. Especially an extreme preemie, they've really got to be watched very closely.

That is your first visit. There is a potential for it to be complicated. Your doctor will discuss topics like medicines and growth of your baby. But parents who have been through it, say educating yourself and keeping a positive attitude can take you a long way on the road to good health.

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