Dr. Wolfberg specializes in prenatal diagnosis and prevention of preterm delivery.
My daughter, Larissa, was born nearly three months before her due date, which is, fortunately, not the type of birthday most children have. But preterm delivery – births prior to 37 weeks of gestation – is a relatively common phenomenon, affecting nearly 12 percent of births in the United States each year. Children born many weeks early are at high risk for significant complications – lung disease and brain injury are two of the most severe consequences – but even children born a few weeks early are at risk for adverse consequences, including learning difficulties that may not be identified until they are in school.
Preterm birth is a rare enough event that I would hate for all women to go through pregnancy terrified that they will deliver early – pregnancy is tough enough without added anxiety.
However, it is worth making a short mental note and filing it away so that if you should experience the following symptoms, you remember to call your obstetrician or midwife right away:
- uterine contractions,
- a different or abnormal discharge,
- new pelvic pressure, or
- an unusual backache.
On Wednesday, November 7, I hosted a free webinar for Isis Parenting specifically for parents who are worried about preterm delivery or have a baby who was born early. You can view the webinar recording here.
I was joined by pediatric neurologist, Jason Carmel, and pediatric neuropsychologist, Kelly Lowery (who, incidentally, is my wife). I wrote about Larissa’s birth and about Jason and his research in my book, Fragile Beginnings.
Once you find yourself in the unexpected position of being the proud parent of a child born prematurely, you will suddenly become a consumer of information about prematurity and its consequences.
In a sense, there is no one-size-fits-all guide to premature delivery, because most children will not have complications of their prematurity, and if a child has chronic lung disease, his parents are not going to be interested in information about rentinopathy of prematurity.
Dr. Carmel is an expert in recovery and rehabilitation for children with brain injury, including the most common type of brain injury in prematurity, intraventricular hemorrhage. He is going to discuss some of his research and the clinical program he runs for these children.
Dr. Lowery is an expert in learning disabilities, and works with children (most of whom were not born prematurely) who have specific deficits that make traditional education challenging. She will review warning signs for learning disabilities, and explain how parents, teachers, and schools can help kids with these subtle deficits succeed.
It will be a challenge to communicate all of the information we have to you during the webinar, so we wanted to at least provide contact information and some additional resources here:
Contact information:
- Adam Wolfberg, MD: Visit his website, www.adamwolfberg.com, or schedule a consultation by contacting his office at 617.264-.364.
- Jason Carmel, MD, PhD: Email him at jcarmel@burke.org.
- Kelly Lowery: Email her at Kelly@kellylowery.com.
Resources:
- Learn about Cervical Length Measurement to as a tool to assess increased risk of preterm birth
- Learn more about the use of Progesterone Supplementation in preventing preterm birth
- Read about Kelly’s and my experience with preterm delivery and learn about Jason Carmel’s research in Fragile Beginnings.
- March of Dimes is another great resource for information about preterm delivery.
- Information for parents of a child with learning disabilities:
- LD Online for parents
- National Center for Learning Disabilities/In the home
- Learning Disabilities Association of America
- Reading Rockets/For Parents
- CHADD – Children and Adults with ADHD
- Official Website of Dr. Russell Barkley, ADHD expert
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
- ADHD Online Community
- The ADHD Report
Boston Maternal Fetal Medicine locations are staffed with experienced RDMS certified sonographers, as well as top of the line ultrasound equipment.