Ten month old Cahir — who was born premature — is considered as being aged around six months of age when it comes to his development
It has been a difficult period for a Maghera family since their third child, Cahir was born around ten months ago at 24 weeks premature. The Cleary family have had to band together and adjust to a new way of life, in an effort to support Cahir’s health battle, which has seen the baby back and forth from hospital since he was born.
Cahir was born with chronic lung disease, a hole in his heart and is still being tube fed today. The baby spent 135 days in hospital before getting home to be with his family — and it has been a steep learning curve for everyone involved.
When Cahir first came home, he was on oxygen which he is off now, but he still needs to be monitored and the family also need to be careful where they venture because of the baby’s weak immune system. Cahir’s father, Conor, a self-employed joiner when his youngest was born had to stop work to support his wife Julie with the baby during what has been, a challenging time.
Caring for Cahir is a constant task and requires a watchful eye. The baby feeds through a pump, which takes an hour and a half, then has an hour and a half break until he has to be fed again. At the moment, the family are experimenting with giving Cahir more milk, but trying to feed him less frequently in a bid to get him stronger.
His mum Julie, 35, said: “The pregnancy got to the stage where they said they had to deliver him. He had a hard start and was ventilated when he was first born for the first three or four weeks of his life. Thank god, they eventually did get him off the ventilator.
“It has been chaotic but you do the best you can. Although, the family are in upheaval. “You are sitting and waiting a lot wondering when the next bout of sickness will come outside the house and when will he be back in hospital? We are coming into the sick season and the family avoid a lot of situations out in the world because we don’t want to bring any health issues into our house.
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“It’s been hard to understand what is going on and it was difficult without a lot of guidance initially. Our first two children weren’t premature, it is not an easy situation for parents when this happens. The other children have had to adapt with this going on.”
Cahir will need to be monitored regularly due to his chronic lung disease and a hole in his heart that has closed over slightly. He will also require brain scans and possibly, other support in the future.
Julie added: “He is home and its grand but you don’t know what will happen when he gets older. The support has been fantastic, a lot of people have been asking my husband and me how he has been doing. I’ve been in contact with TinyLife, they support families with premature babies and their support has been great.”
A GoFundMe has been started to help support Baby Cahir and his family. Anyone interested in donating, can do so here .
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