“My first thought when we had Charlie so early was, ‘why is this happening?’” Kate Wittemann recalls. “But now I look back and realize that Charlie gave us something to focus on and work towards.”

Before their son Charlie arrived 15 weeks before his due date, Kate and her husband, Paul, were at a turning point in their lives. They were “struggling to find a purpose,” Kate remembers. Then Charlie was born on Valentine’s Day of 2015 via emergency caesarean section. …