2023: Volume 4, Issue 1
Past Issues
Full-Text 
PDFReclaiming Maternal Power: Mothers’ Experiences of Preterm Birth in Ireland
Aisling Parkes1,*, Anna Trace2
1School of Law, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
2Anna Trace, School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
*Corresponding author: Aisling Parkes, School of Law, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Email: [email protected]
Received Date: June 16, 2023
Publication Date: July 10, 2023
Citation: Parkes A, et al. (2023). Reclaiming Maternal Power: Mothers’ Experiences of Preterm Birth in Ireland. Neonatal. 4(1):10.
Copyright: Parkes A, et al. © (2023).
BACKGROUND
The experience of having a preterm infant and spending time in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a unique and uncommon one. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 15 million babies are born prematurely on an annual basis, with pre-term birth defined as ‘…babies born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed’ (WHO, 2018). There are generally three categories of preterm birth which are based on the gestational age of the baby: (1) extremely pre-term (>28 weeks’ gestation); (2) very pre-term (28 - 32 weeks’ gestation); and (3) moderate to late preterm (32-37 weeks’ gestation). In Ireland, approximately 4500 babies are born preterm per annum which equates to one in 16 babies (Health Service Executive, 2021).
