Any 2nd + time mamas have early babies?

mamatowildones

My first was induced at 39 weeks because I had hypertension. It was all perfect. My second came on his own at 37 weeks and 8lbs. The nurse said it was unlikely any issues would arise. But sure enough he was grunting and spent a few days in the NICU. So now I'm a little worried about this baby coming early... I mentioned it to my OB and she said she'll watch my cervix and if she has to, she'll put me on bedrest (that will be fun with two boys to take care of). But of course I'll do anything to keep baby cooking and with us rather than in the NICU. I now understand how special and amazing it is to have baby with you. What a blessing I'd always taken for granted!
Anyone else have an early baby and then full term babies after? Just worried it's going to happen again. 

JCWhitey

I went into PTL at 32 weeks.  We managed to eekp DD in until 37w0d when she was born after I was walking around dilated to 5.5cm and 90% effaced for two weeks.  That was fun.  Anyway, my doctor said that women who have early babies are more likely to have early babies so I will start progesterone injections at 20 weeks.  

ETA: I think the injections go  to 33 or 37 weeks but I'd love to have a full term baby so I'm hoping to make it to at least 39 weeks.  I'm not sure they'll let me take the injections that long but I'm hoping.

ETA 2:  my autocorrect keeps correcting 36 to 33 and for some reason it will not let me change that to 36.  Weird.

mamatowildones

@JCWhitey wow! You're a trooper. Did baby have any NICU time at 37 weeks?

JCWhitey

 @mamatowildones I got two rounds of steroids that helped  keep us out of the NICU, but we wound up in the PICU when she was 1 month old because of lung issues.  So even with steroids her lungs weren't ready to 37 weeks.  This is a big reason I hate  it when people want to "evict" their babies at 37 weeks.  It may be term, but it's not full term and every moment inside helps.

Squirtgun

I had my first just short of 37weeks, second at 35 weeks. Older daughter stayed a week in the NICU, younger had no NICU time! (But she does have some delays, starting speech therapy tomorrow. I'm actually kind of nervous about it!)  
This time I'll start progesterone injections at 16weeks, hoping that this little will stay put longer!  

@JCWhitey oh my goodness yes!! That makes me so mad!!  After younger daughter was born, an acquaintance was all "oh! Well she's doing fine! I'm going to ask my OB to induce me at 35 weeks! I'm so over being pregnant!"  Serious anger from me!!   (and who would actually think that their OB would do that?!) 

mamatowildones

I don't care how miserable I was either time, I'd take a late baby making me miserable for their own health developments this time for sure!! @Squirtgun tomorrow will be great. Keep us posted. 

mcvgal

DS1 was born at 30wks and spent 40 days in the NICU. I didn't even get to hold him until he was 4 days old. DS2 was born at 36 weeks. Due to my history with Pre-e and HELLP, I was monitored closely with DS2. He was born early because my blood pressure was starting to rise quickly. He spent no time in the NICU and was able to come home right away. This time around my doctor is hoping I can make it to at least 37 weeks.

As tired and uncomfortable as I was during the final trimester, I was super thankful that DS2 was still holding strong inside.

chickyclg

37 weeks is considered "Early Full Term", sorry but it's rare that 37 weekers need NICU and I feel that 37 weekers should not be categorized as "preemies".

I had PTL signs at 28 weeks- bedrest and a wheelchair if I needed to go to appointments

32+0 weeks- PTL stopped/slowed (contractions every 25-30 min) dilated to a 3 with a bulging sac , hospital bed rest after 3 days in L&D

34+0 weeks- Moved back to L&D, contractions back down to 2 minutes apart, dilated to a 4, DS water broke and heart rate in distress, emergency CS

Luckily I received a series of steroid shots to help their lungs mature and they didn't need CPAP.  Spent 14 and 17 short days in the NICU.  The first 48 hours of which I was unable to hold them, they were only able to be fed by feeding tubes, we were on constant Brady watch.

Anyways, I'm having my cervix monitored and possibly starting progesterone shots.

ETA: hit send too soon.

Luckyu317

DS1 was 40+2, water broke/went into labor on my own. Ds2 I was induced at 40+3. OP, I can understand why you're worried, and I hope everything goes smoothly for you this go-round. It's good that your OB is going to keep a close eye on it. FX for no bed rest!

JCWhitey

I don't see where anyone referred to 37 Weeker's as preemies.  They are definitely considered term babies.  

JCWhitey

@Squirtgun I also remember being in the shower bawling my eyes out a week after DD was born and telling DH it was because I should still be pregnant and felt like I was cheated out of the rest of my pregnancy.  Poor guy tried the defense that most women would be happy to have their baby earlier rather than later.  That didn't turn out too good for him.  

Also my son is severely speech delayed and is in speech therapy.  It's been helpful, although the original prediction that he'd only need speech for 6 months and he'd be caught up did not pan out.  it's been a year and he's still nowhere near caught up.  So it hasn't been the instant miracle I was hoping for, but it's help us a lot.  And they now believe that his delays are due to hearing loss and no amount of speech therapy will help with that.  But he is in speech with 4 other kids from his class, so speech delays are far from rare and you aren't alone in it.  Hopefully you can connect with other parents during this process.  I have found that helpful.

Candy_bandit

My daughter was born out of nowhere at 36 weeks. Had just gone to an appointment 4 days earlier, wasn't dilated, everything looked good then my water broke and they ended up inducing. It was a huge shock- my baby shower was literally one week before so we at least got that done. It didn't even occur to me she wouldn't be able to come home with us until day two when the nurse mentioned off hand "you will be going today and we will see if she can go with you." I got pretty riled up, no nicu time and she did end up getting to go home that day.
The main issue we had is she could never latch- I ended up exclusively pumping for 6 months and would like to breastfeed this time. I will start progesterone at 16 weeks to avoid another early bird.
fingers crossed for the full 40! 
On a happier note at my daughters 1year appointment last week she is officially off the premature weight chart and onto the average one which we were excited about

luckywife10

@Squirtgun I hope your daughter's first day of speech therapy goes well! I'm a speech pathology grad student and I love working with young kids. If you have any questions about your daughter's therapy ask the SLP as many questions as you'd like. We're very used to answering questions and explaining methods. I also echo what @JCWhitey said about speech therapy. Good thoughts are being sent your way today

Squirtgun

@mamatowildones, @JCWhitey, @luckywife10 thanks so much guys!!  I'll let you know how it goes this afternoon.  (I keep having a dream where the speech pathologist tells me that I'm crazy and that there's nothing wrong with daughter- even though she's been evaluated by my state's early intervention!) 

chickyclg

JCWhitey said:

I don't see where anyone referred to 37 Weeker's as preemies.  They are definitely considered term babies.  

OP said "Anyone else have a early babies and then go on and have full term babies?"  OP insinuated that 37 weekers are not term.

Sorry, but as a preemie mom with kids that dealt with a lot of post NICU preemie issues that comment made me roll my eyes.  I 100% get wanting to have a 40 weeker, but I would have killed to get my kids to 37 weeks and issue free and to be able to be discharged when I was.

mamatowildones

@chickyclg I was told my multiple nurses that at 37+0 he was considered "early term" to me, he was early. I would never call him a preemie but he did have his problems for coming early and spent time in the NICU. I'm not going to sit here and defend my wording in regards to my own child and my own experience. 

chickyclg

@mamatowildones I never asked you to defend your words.  As I said in my original comment 37 weeks is "Early Full Term" so I don't know why you felt the need to educate me that you had multiple nurses tell you the same thing.

You asked a question in your original post and I responded, with my experience and the tentative plan for this pregnancy.  PP asked where anyone stated that a 37 weeker is not a term baby, so I mentioned your wording in you original post which insinuated that it wasn't.  

schnitz9

Maybe the OP is concerned this baby will come earlier that 37 weeks since he 2nd came earlier than her first. While yes 37 weeks is considered "early full term". For many of us it is not ideal. We would all love our children to come at 40 weeks. I don't think she was insinuating anything more than that.

mamatowildones

@schnitz9 yes. Thank you. 

schnitz9

mamatowildones said:

@schnitz9 yes. Thank you. 

No prob. Seems to me your scared for another NICU stay. Which frankly I don't blame you. That's has to be tough. The pendulum always swings both ways. We have 2 very close friends that both recently had twins 3 days apart. On friend and his wife had boy/girl twins at 34 1/2 weeks and no NICU stay and were home with in 3 days. Our other friends had boy/girl twins at 37 1/2 weeks and their little boy is still in the NICU after 2 weeks on a vent. There's a risk for complications at any stage and I can def understand being scared if you e gone through it in the past. That's only natural. Wish I had some advice, but my son was born at 39 weeks and 5 days and went home after 2 days. My sis though was a 35 weeker who spent about 2 weeks in the NICU. She did grown up a bit smaller than her peers and she too had speech delays. She also had some learning disabilities. But now she's gonna be 29 in a few weeks, taller than me, college graduate, had a really good job (hate to admit but she makes more money than me

chickyclg

Oh lord, interpretation was left open and I viewed it as it was written that 37 weeks =/= full term. 

mamatowildones said:

Anyone else have an early baby and then full term babies after? 

To be fair I still answered the question, even though I rolled my eyes.  It's just the wording, as a preemie mom I read this as "Anyone else have an early full term baby and then full term babies after?"  Whatever, I'm not really seeing the problem with anything I said in any of my previous comments.  I can totally understand the desire to avoid NICU, I would never wish NICU for anyones baby because it is a mind fuck, but you can't be upset if someone interpreted your words how they written and it is different than what you meant.

Squirtgun

Daughter's appointment today went really well! Basically the speech pathologist did a really in depth evaluation, and has decided that daughter will have speech therapy once a week for the foreseeable future. She gave me a lot of things I can do with her at home, and made me feel really confident about what she has planned to help daughter!     (Sorry, I feel a bit like I'm hijacking this thread, which is not my intention at all!! I just really appreciated the support y'all gave me and wanted to let you know how today went!) 

kat81

According to new classifications (that are actually a few years old now), 37 weeks is NOT full term. It is "early term," and the phrase "full term" refers to 39-41 weeks. 37 weeks is not premature/pre-term, but I never read the OP's post as saying such. She was talking about an "early" baby, which a baby is at 37 weeks, and she wants to avoid going earlier or even repeating a NICU visit at 37 or so weeks.

https://www.acog.org/About-ACOG/News-Room/News-Releases/2013/Ob-Gyns-Redefine-Meaning-of-Term-Pregnancy

Lots of babies are born at 37 weeks without needing anything extra, whereas some still need NICU time and would have benefited from a few more weeks inside. I think it's great that a mom is on here wishing for this, when there are so many moms who get to 36-37 weeks and say, "I'm ready for this baby to come out NOW!", in spite of that being worse for the baby. I'm sure it's in part because of people wishing to induce early and whatnot that the guidelines were changed for full term to be 39 weeks instead of 37.

As for me, my first was born just 4 days early but was referred to as "acting like a preemie" by the various health professionals, as he had considerable trouble eating and gaining weight, and was born pretty small to begin with. They were obviously exaggerating because he didn't need any NICU time or anything, but we did have to go in for weight checks almost daily for a month. My second was born 4 days late and a pound heavier and had no trouble. I doubt the 8 day difference in time made a difference, but I put this out there to say a) yes younger siblings can be born later than older ones, and b) all babies are different and can be affected by their birth timing differently.

tenfour

My first baby was born on her due date and my second was NINE days late (and that was after me doing all of the home inducing wives tales in the book). 

Kipperoo

I was induced at 37 weeks with my son (early, but full term). He came home with me 2 days later and has seemed totally fine developmentally (now 2 years old).  Interestingly, when I went in for the induction, I was already dilated to a 2, so he probably would have come a little early, anyway. The condition that caused me to be induced at 37 weeks (cholestasis), has a high probability of occurring in this pregnancy, too. If the condition develops again, I will be induced at 36 weeks (new protocol), which definitely makes me nervous, but I'll play the cards as they are dealt to me and hope for the best. Not much I can do to prevent it. I know we all want the best for these little babies and want them to bake as long as possible--worrying about it just adds another layer of worry to the craziness that is pregnancy, so try not to stress out about it until you have to (yes...much easier said than done...)

Candy_bandit

They called my daughter "late pre-term" but because she didn't go to the nicu I just say she was early. I cannot imagine how painful it would be to have a newborn go to the nicu

WombThereItIs

My son was born at 39 weeks so I'm going to respectfully stay the hell away from the early/premie/early term etc debate. 

I will say I found your story interesting though @mamatowildones because I was also induced for hypertension and was concerned about not being able to go into labor on my own this time since it's really my only ticket out of another c section. So thanks for sharing. 

mamatowildones

@WombThereItIs I was worried about going into labor on my own and was shocked that it happened at 37. Each one is just so different it's crazy. 

JCWhitey

I would never say my baby was a preemie because I fought like crazy to make her not be one.  "Making it to March" was my motto because on March 1 I would be 36w6d.  My water broke at 9PM on March 1 and she was born the next day.

But, there can also be some danger in assuming 37 or even 38, 39, and 40 Weeker's will be perfectly healthy.  My niece was a 39 Weeker who only weighed 4 lbs and had a lot of issues stemming from undiagnosed IUGR.  They said developmentally she was more like a 35 Weeker and actually would have been better off being born at 35 weeks.  NICU stays for term babies are really not that rare.  There are so many reasons why a baby may need some extra attention at birth.  Not the same as a preemie, bUT still difficult for the parents.

ann_jeremiah

Nope.. They seem to want to stay in longer.. The more I have. DS1 was 5 days early, DS2 was 1 day early, DD was 5 days late.

cdsmith714

I had DD at 30w6dbwe had a 32 day nicu stay. I was told I would start progesterone shots at 16 weeks, and go to maternal and infant health for a high risk assessment. my obgyn has hinted that even though my EDD is 5/30, I be prepared for anything after 3/1.