Born 16 weeks premature, life has been a constant battle for "Charlie", who travelled home to Uralla yesterday after spending the first five months of her life in the John Hunter Children's Hospital neonatal intensive care unit.

It was a journey the Fletchers, who are first-time parents, had least expected, but one they will be forever grateful for after spending eight years going through IVF treatment to have a child and losing two babies in miscarriages before having Charlie.

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/premature-baby-charlie-finally-goes-home/1462166.aspx

Typically a premature baby is whisked away at birth from its mother and hooked up to hi-tech intensive care machines that control breathing and other vital functions. But the most powerful therapy may be old-fashioned, low-tech snuggling that neo-natal experts call kangaroo care.....

http://www.littleabout.com/2009/02/12/close-cuddling-helps-premature-babies-develop /

.....If you've given birth early before then you may be at risk. If your doctor thinks you may be at risk, he or she may suggest treatment to try to prevent it......Progesterone is a natural chemical that your body makes. It's one of the main female hormones. Taking a man-made version of this hormone (a progestogen) may help to prevent premature births.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/besttreatments/premature-birth-treatments-treatments-to-prevent-premature-birth-in-women-at-high-risk

.....Imaging the brains of premature babies give doctors vital clues as to how those babies will develop as children, a new international study has revealed......

http://www.mcri.edu.au/pages/research/news/2006/11/MRI-predicts-risks-for-premature-babies.asp