Celina Jaitly opens up on son’s death after premature birth, shares inspiring note for preemie parents

Actor Celina Jaitly is a proud mommy of three children. After she gave birth to two boys in 2012, she was gearing up to have another set of twins in 2017. But her second twin pregnancy was more of a bittersweet moment. Her baby Arthur was born preterm in 2017 along with Shamsher. While Arthur managed to survive, his twin couldn’t be saved. Five years after the incident shook her and her family emotionally, Celina has penned a heartfelt note about how she coped with the loss, in an inspiring social media note.

The former beauty queen took to Twitter and Instagram to post a photo of herself holding her baby, with her husband Peter Haag standing next to her. She also shared a close-up picture of the little one in the neonatal intensive care unit. The final photo was of her whole family!

Celina Jaitly on losing her son

Celina shared that the outcome of her second spontaneous twin pregnancy was bittersweet as she lost Shamsher due to a heart condition. She went into labour at 32 weeks due to the trauma of her father’s sudden demise. It was a difficult phase for the couple. But they smiled after many million tears in the first photograph to seal a “happy memory for our baby Arthur’s arrival”. He went straight to the NICU in an incubator for three months right after his arrival.

Also Read

Once told she was ‘too thin’ to play badminton, Anupama Upadhyaya went on to become Junior World No.1 Read Now

What is preterm birth?

When babies are born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed, that’s called preterm. They may be born preterm due to spontaneous preterm labour or caesarean birth early. According to the World Health Organization, about 13.4 million babies had preterm deliveries in 2020. In 2019, about 900000 children lost their lives due to complications of preterm birth. In fact, preterm birth complications happen to be one of the major causes of death among kids under 5 years of age.

Celina Jaitly’s message for parents of premature babies

It wasn’t easy for Celina to talk about losing her baby. She said it took her five years to come to terms with this episode of their lives. But she finally managed to “summon the courage” to talk about my ordeal to help many parents who reach out to her and her husband as they deal with the trauma of preterm birth and loss of a baby.

Many parents of premature babies may find themselves at crossroads when it comes to how to cope with stress. Here are some tips by Celina Jaitley to deal with life when your baby is born premature.

1. Have faith

Celina assures preemie parents that they can get through the traumatic times with a sense of belief. From her personal experience, she says she can “vouch that your preemie baby is a true survivor”. According to her, preemies show their parents the “power of faith and prayer and the fight of the human spirit.” On a positive note, she told the parents to remember that “most premature babies survive and live completely normal, healthy lives.”

2. Accept the reality

The sooner parents accept that there will be good days and bad days, it will help them to feel less shocked and worried when challenging days happen, says Celina. She and her husband moved into the same hospital in Dubai for the few months of NICU as the loss of Shamsher had left them immensely anxious about Arthur. Together, they went through feelings of frustration, intense sadness, nervousness, disappointment, guilt, anger and love. It was overwhelming, but she shares this to let other preemie parents know that they are not alone in how they feel. Extreme and sometimes contradictory emotions are experienced by nearly every parent of a preemie at one time or another, she adds.

3. Team work matters

It is very important at such a time to remember “you can be more effective as a team than individually, so watch your teamwork as parents.”

4. Communicate with your premature baby

Speaking and singing gently to premature baby in the NICU is a “great way to bond and feel close, even when you can’t hold him,” she adds.

5. Believe that you can overcome this

Sharing a positive message, Celina said that impossible odds set the stage for incredible miracles, and although the “world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”