This article is by no means the most joyful, but it is good to know some things of life to sensitize the most people around you. This nurse gives a moving testimony about perinatal mortality, and explains the reasons why some children die before birth.
Perinatal mortality is a fairly widespread phenomenon in the world but not much talked about. By definition, a stillborn child is a baby who comes out of the mother's womb by having already lost her life at the beginning, during or at the end of pregnancy, unlike a baby born alive but died some time after birth ( Sudden infant death). Here are the main causes of perinatal mortality.
Some numbers…
According to a study by Inserm (National Institute for Health and Medical Research) made in 2010, France would have the highest perinatal mortality rate on the European continent. A rate of 9.2 stillbirths per 1000 births. And according to a study published in the British medical journal The Lancet, more than 2.6 million infants are born without life in the world, at the rate of 7,200 a day, half of which die during childbirth. Sadly real figures that deserve attention to the causes that are responsible for them. Here are the main factors of perinatal mortality:
Congenital abnormalities, infections, diseases and lifestyle of the mother
Congenital anomalies were responsible for 7.4% of deaths. The following are diseases and infections in the mother that prevent pregnancy, such as malaria or syphilis. We can also note the bad lifestyle of the mother (bad diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, etc.), or it can also be related to a late pregnancy. A woman who becomes pregnant late is more likely than her fetus to be born with a malformation.
Growth Retardation (Delayed Growth)
This is a very late and slow development of the fetus inside the uterus. This delay is usually diagnosed at 22 weeks of pregnancy. When it is very serious, the fetus does not survive.
The umbilical cord
Death from the umbilical cord occurs when the umbilical cord is wrapped around the neck of the fetus, knots are formed and interferes with the placenta. The baby suffers and eventually dies.
Poor monitoring of pregnancy and precarious conditions
It should be noted that the majority of perinatal deaths are inventoried in underdeveloped countries, low-income countries and countries in political conflict. Lack of resources, research, adverse health conditions, deliveries in precarious conditions, poor monitoring of pregnancy are all factors responsible for perinatal mortality.
Testimony of a nurse
Here is the overwhelming testimony of a British nurse who recounts the painful experience of parents having had a stillborn child and that she had to support. Her name is Brittany Denise, a nurse in a neonatal department. She has the daunting task of caring for and caring for sick newborns and premature babies who need intensive care.
She explains that her job is also to train parents and prepare them for their child's coming to the world, especially when the child is fragile. She is happy to do this job and to bring back to life babies predestined to die. He sometimes witnesses miracles.
But when a baby is stillborn, it has to be present alongside the parents. She explains that these are very painful situations to live:
"When there is a case of stillbirth, I fight constantly and tell myself that we could always have done better to save the baby's life too soon, even if all the medical practices have failed. I give these sweet little lives to their parents to take their last breath when science and medicine can no longer do anything. "
Brittany supports as best she can the parents and helps them to overcome this painful ordeal, she constitutes memories that the latter can keep, holds them in her arms, gives them comfort ... She adds:
"Sometimes I cry secretly because my job is far from easy. Seeing a child born lifeless is one of the most difficult things in the world. "