Brooklyn Mom Struggles With Experience Of Premature Birth

WCBS 880's Marla Diamond produced a special series of reports leading up to this Sunday's March of Dimes March for Babies, which will be held at Lincoln Center at 10:00 a.m. To sign up, visit www.marchforbabies.org and if you missed any of Marla's stories, click here.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Premature birth is actually a common experience, but it is often unexplained. Many refer to the experience as birth without joy, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.

WCBNS 880's Marla Diamond On The Story

Brooklyn mom Jody Berman went into labor at just 28 weeks.

"And it was all just a big shock. You know, I thought the hard part had been over after four years of trying to get pregnant," she told Diamond.

She didn't know how to react to the birth of her 2 lb. 12 oz. daughter.

"You know when they showed her to me after she was born, before they took her to the NICU, they actually kind of put her in my face to kiss her and I didn't know what to do," said Berman. "It was hard for me to connect with her the way she came. It was not what I ever imagined."

She said she was afraid to pick a name for a while, until her mother forced her.

Baby Cameron spent six weeks in an incubator.

"It was a very difficult start," said Berman."Thankfully we just had her first birthday... and she is doing great. She is crawling and babbling and almost walking and really right on track where she should be. And if it wasn't for the unbelievable care that she received and the advancements I guess in the last 20 years, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to say that."

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