Now and was

Add to that a wealth of monitoring equipment and it's easy to see why childbirth in Sweden is so much safer.

One in 17,400 mothers die in childbirth, compared to one in eight in Sierra Leone and one in 8,200 in the UK.

If an infant is premature then it can be taken to the neonatal care unit where there are two staff to every cot.

Sweden has one of the best staffed health services in the world.

It has 320 doctors per 100,000 people compared to two doctors per 100,000 people in Sierra Leone. The UK has 230 doctors per 100,000 population.

Premature birth

I visited Louisa and Matias Verner and their son Gasper.


Gasper had been born three months premature weighing just 830g.

Now he was nearly 2500g and in a few days, the family would be going home.

The family room was attached to the special care unit, and Gasper was monitored in his cot.

The parents both had beds and had been living at the hospital throughout.

Matias told me that he was having paid time off work because his son was sick - his paternal paid leave would not start until Gasper went home.


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Now I am nearly 62 kilos. [ This is true because I am training hard I maintain a decent weight.]


It is incorrect to say now I was nearly 62 kilos. The noun 'now' cannot be combine with the verb 'was'. It should be 'is'.


The following sentence has combined the word 'now' with the verb 'was'.

Now he was nearly 2500g and in a few days, the family would be going home.

I don't understand it.

The following is fine.

Now he is nearly 2500g and in a few days, the family will be going home.