A premature baby or otherwise called as a preemie is born anywhere before the 37^th gestational week of pregnancy, or those born before reaching full term gestation.  Premature births are triggered by more than a dozen reasons, as well as unknown causes.  They occur for about eight to ten percent of the total pregnancies in America.  Naturally, premature babies weigh lesser compared to full term babies since they are born earlier. 

Preemies come with health problems owing to the fact that some of their organs are not yet fully developed by the time they are born.  They definitely need and must be given utmost medical attention, thus, they are put in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or in the NICU.  There, they remain until their organs are well functional and their overall body system can very well work on its own.  In general, premature babies are in great risk of critical medical complications, even death.  However, with today’s medical innovation, even before, most premature babies eventually were able to go home to their waiting family.

An increasing number of premature babies all grow up healthy and strong, like any other full term born people, albeit, there were others that were not that lucky.  Even the best in the medical field cannot always save a preemie from lifetime disabilities like mental retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing and vision problems, chronic lung disease, or any learning problems.  Almost fifty percent of neurological-related impairments in children are associated to premature births.

Besides those mentioned above, more serious preemies complications are respiratory distress syndrome, bleeding within the brain, patent ductus arteriosus, NEC or necrotizing enterocolitis and retinopathy of prematurity or ROP.  The respiratory-related disorder is common to babies born before their 34 weeks of gestation.  At present, a medicine called Surfactant is commonly given to too early born premature babies to help hasten the development of the lungs.  Preemies given a dose of the artificial surfactant are said to respond to it very well and improve their condition within several days to weeks.

Bleeding within the brain is another familiar condition to babies prematurely born at 32 weeks and even earlier.  Such case is medically referred to as IVH or intraventricular hemorrhage, and possibly result to so much brain pressure and brain damage.  Furthermore, the patent ductus arteriosus is a heart problem that affects most premature babies.  If left untreated, it may lead to an unforgiving heart failure.  Another dangerous premature baby complication is the necrotizing enterocolitis, affecting a preemie’s intestines.  The ROP or the retinopathy of prematurity on the other hand, relates to an eye problem that mainly occurs in babies born younger than 32 weeks.  Proper treatment is required in prevention of a vision loss for severe cases.

Predicting which women or which pregnancy will end up to a premature birth is close to impossible, although doctors can easily detect a high-risk pregnancy.  Every pregnancy is unique and different that labors and deliveries vary hugely with every pregnant female.  Some high-risk pregnancy did end up in premature births while others led to normal full term deliveries.  Therefore, there is no telling who will and who will not deliver prematurely.  Save those cases of multiple births and other severely serious cases wherein doctors will have to say when to get their patients to labor and give birth.  Other than this, premature births cannot be predicted.

A premature baby does not grow in the same rate as the full terms do for the first two years of life.  Preemies during this time are usually smaller.  However, after some time, premature babies catch up with those born full term in terms of growth.  In the years to come, considering there are no life-threatening complications that affect a premature baby, it will then be difficult to tell whether he or she was born full term or prematurely.