Do preemies Feel Pain?

There was a article in last weeks New York Times Magazine entitled The First Ache. It opened a HUGE discussion on my preemie group that I am still a few days later trying to get my head around. The gist of the article is about *when* a fetus starts to feel pain. Countless NICU baby's undergo medical procedures with NO anesteshia and pain control. This past week alone I heard a story of a preemie having a chest tube inserted without anesthia or local anesthetic, this baby then retreated into herself and reacted to nobody for 3 days. To hear this makes me feel physically sick. I understand the Medical side of anesthesia being dangerous for these tiny babies, but there are studies out there proving that severe pain in these little babies can cause BRAIN DAMAGE. It makes me wonder how much Kyle felt during his *painful* procedures? I think back to the shots, COUNTLESS heel sticks,blood transfusions, eye exams& 2 PICC line insertions. Kyle's feet and hands are scarred with "dots" (as Kyle calls them) he has 2 scars on his leg from PICC lines. I can remembebeing told several times "Don't worry he wont feel it". Did he feel it? To this day he hates having his hands and feet touched unless it's on his own terms. Cutting his toenails is torture for him It usually starts with the anxiety of seeing the clippers and the cries of "that hurts!" PLEASE don't hurt me!" The more I learn the more scared I am for his future. I cringe when I hear parents of preemies say "Oh yeah they were born early but they have no problems". Prematurity will always be an issue Kyle is 4yrs old we are just at the beginning of the road--And we are one of the lucky ones. What bothers me most is that we are 4 YEARS into our journey and we are still constantly learning more. Why didn't we have this inforamtion 4 years ago--maybe I couldn't have handled it at that point.