Adult Micro Preemie Survivor, Christina Gagnon

05/10/23 • 52 min

Christina Gagnon was born at 25 weeks gestation, weighing just 1 pound, eight ounces. Now, this is incredible in its own right but Christina was born in 1986 when micro preemies of her birthweight and gestational age only had a 14% chance of survival, and of the few that did survive, often suffered the effects of extreme prematurity throughout their lives: blindness, asthma, cerebral palsy, and many others. In comparison, a baby born like Christina today would have an 80% chance of survival, or better and that fact is mainly due to the advances in research and technology that are afforded the modern-day NICU. Thankfully, Christina escaped many of the problems I just listed but still suffers from chronic sinus infections, PTSD, asthma, and a mild communication deficit. And the key word there is mild; I found her to be intelligent, intuitive, and very well-spoken. I love how she describes her mom, her life-long advocate, as a warrior! And her message to adult micro preemies? Consider writing a book, as she has, because the world needs to hear your perspective. In the five-minute snippet: she really is a Swiftie! For Christina's bio, visit my website (link below).
Preemie Voices by Saroj SaigalShriner's Children's Hospitals (Christina had her scar revision surgery here)Preemie World Newsletter (Christina was featured with her Neonatologist)NIDCAP: Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment ProgramTrauma-Informed Care in the NICU by Mary Coughlin

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The Conversing Nurse podcast - Adult Micro Preemie Survivor, Christina Gagnon

Transcript

[00:00] MIchelle: Christina Gagnon was born at 25 weeks gestation weighing just 1 lb., 8oz. Now, this is incredible in its own right, but Christina was born in 1986 when micro preemies of her birth weight and gestational age only had a 14% chance of survival. And of the few that did survive often suffered the effects of extreme prematurity throughout their lives: blindness, asthma, cerebral palsy, and many others. In comparison, a baby born like Christina today would have an 8