One month after her preterm birth, J.R. Smith holds daughter for first time
An incredibly difficult month for Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith and his family brightened considerably on Monday, and he decided to share that light with the world:
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A photo posted by JR Smith (@teamswish) on Feb 6, 2017 at 9:10am PST
“Today is one of the greatest days of my life,” Smith wrote in the caption of his Instagram post. “Today I get to hold my youngest for the first time! GOD is GREAT! #DakotaStrong”
Smith and his wife, Jewel Harris, announced last month that Harris had given birth to their daughter, Dakota, five months before her expected delivery date. Five days after her birth, Dakota weighed just 1 pound.
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“We decided to share with the world what’s been going on with our family in the past five days,” Harris said during a video message shared by Smith via Uninterrupted, the athlete-fronted digital media company co-owned by Smith’s Cavaliers teammate, LeBron James. “We know we’re not the only family going through this, has been through this or who will ever go through it.”
In fact, “about one in every 10 infants born in the United States in 2015, the most recent statistical year tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” was a preterm birth, according to CNN:
Preterm birth is when a baby is born before 37 weeks of gestation, according to Dr. Philippe Friedlich, chief of the division of neonatology and director of the center for fetal and neonatal medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. A normal pregnancy can range from 38 to 42 weeks. […]
The prognosis for preemies is very individual, with hopes for survival and well-being intertwined with the mother’s condition and the reason for the prematurity, said Friedlich. […]
“The first week of life is very telling,” Friedlich said. A baby who survives the first week of life has a much better chance of surviving in the long-term. Generally, premature girls have better rates of survival than premature boys.
“Most of those babies stay in the hospital usually for as long as their pregnancy would have been, plus usually one or two months extra, depending on the complications associated with the prematurity,” Friedlich said.
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Dakota survived that telling first week and has continued to fight. More than a month after the family’s announcement of her birth, according to TMZ, “doctors determined [Dakota has grown] strong enough to allow her parents to hold her in the NICU,” or neonatal intensive care unit.
There’s still a long road ahead for Dakota, for Smith (who remains sidelined after undergoing surgery on his right thumb in late December) and for their family as a whole. But none of them can fast-forward to the finish line; all they can do is keep taking the next step. It took more than a month, but today, J.R. Smith got to hold his daughter. For now, that’s enough; for now, that’s everything.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
