Preemies

 I  was a preemie long enough ago that the term "kangaroo care" would have sounded even more bizarre than it does now!

I weighed 4lbs 4ozs at birth in 1950. 

From an NPR story recommending the kangaroo method:

When a baby is born prematurely, a good way to help the baby survive and thrive is simply to hold it close to a parent's naked chest.

The name conjures up the way that kangaroo moms hold their offspring in their pouch.

The technique is especially valuable in low-resource areas of the world that may be short on medical technology, including incubators. Kangaroo care, in effect, turns parents into pseudo-incubators. No technology needed!

      Now, despite not receiving any kangaroo care (that I know of), I came out OK, though as the story goes my parents left me in the hospital, in an incubator, while they headed to a casino. Would I have been better off with the kangaroo method? No way of knowing.

 

 

But my brother and sister seemed to be very into taking care of their new baby brother!