Both of my children were preemies. My 12 year old son was born at 25 3/7 weeks (6 1/2 months) and weighed 1# 10oz (743g). He spent 4 months in the hospital. He was born October 13th but wasn't due until February 2nd. The rule of thumb is that they go home around their due date. My daughter was born at 28 weeks (7 months)and weighed 1107g (2# 8oz). She stayed in the NICN 3 months. She was born May 17th and went home August 12th when she was due.
My daughter was born by emergency C-section so I'm sure that the urgency of her birth didn't help matters. But it had to be done.
They were both on the ventilator for a long time because the lungs in a preemie are the last thing to fully develop. My son did get some cosmetic nose damage from the vent but has had plastic surgery to fix it.
They are prone to brain bleeds, ie developmental deficits ultimately resulting in Cerebral Palsy. The earlier they are the higher the odds of CP. However, my son had NO bleed and is perfectly normal. My daughter did have a bleed (intraventricular hemorrhage). She had a very minimal bleed which statistically leaves minimal to no "obvious" residual but she unfortunately does have Cerebral Palsey. And by the grace of God, it is very minimal and it only affects some of her gross motor skill.
She does take ballet and after some surgery she can now run. She's in 2nd grade and one of the smartest in her class. So Cerebral Palsy can have a wide range. She also developed some ROP-retinopathy of prematurity from long time oxygen exposure. It's when oxygen interferes with the growth of blood vessels in the eyse and can ultimately cause blindness. It was mild and at this point she doesn't even need glasses. She does however wear bilateral "pink" hearing aids. She has a 20% hearing deficit I'm aasuming from ototoxic antibiotics (antibiotics that kill hearing). I assume that because her hearing loss is equal. But I didn't discover it until she had her hearing screened for school. She never acted like she can't hear well and she doesn't talk like someone who has lost their hearing.
I breast fed so neither of then got the inflammation of the gut that lost of preemies get (NEC-necrotizing enterocolitis). They are very prone to infections that is normal flora for us. Again Christina got multiple infections and Colin didn't get any. They have problems with apnea & bradycardia (stop breathing and heart rate drops). They essentially forget to breathe because that auto breathing center is not fully functional.
Many preemies have lung problems essentially from prolonged mechanical ventilation (on the ventilator for a long time) but neither of mine do. They often have seizures from brain injury (bleeds) but again neither of mine do. They are prone to RSV which exhibit to the normal person as a common cold but can ultimately kill preemies, but we escaped that also. I could go on for days about potential risks.
Fortunately I was a nurse and my husband a Medical Technologist in both instances and understood a lot of what was going on but sometimes I think that ignorance would have been a lot more blissful.
Feel free to ask any specific questions that you may have. None of this is sacred and I'll give you the best answer that I can.
~Sheila
