Pregnant after Preemie?

msharpe2

I am sure this question gets asked a lot, but is anyone nervous about parenting a full term baby?  

I am actually scared for how fast this baby is going to grow up if he or she is full term! Our first was 7 weeks preemie, so we had that 'newborn' baby for about two and a half months! While Jack is now a healthy and happy baby, he has always been a bit behind in milestones, which has allowed me to soak up the transitions. I hear about six month old babies crawling with teeth, and think: what?!?! Mine didn't crawl or have teeth until he was 1! 

Anyone have a full term following a preemie? What was it like? 

vsalt31

No experience here, but I can relate to your concerns. We want to try for 2 soon, but it scares the daylight out of me. What happens if baby comes even earlier? I couldn't handle another NICU stay. I did recently meet with a Mfma and that seemed to help knowing that the pregnancy will be highly managed. Good luck to you!

ahollo02

The unknown scares me. I could not go through another NICU experience so I would hope to God my next baby is FT.

msharpe2

I think it is because my son is already more than a year, but it isn't the NICU that scares me...I think being pregnant has just made me realize that a preemie baby was and will be much different than a full term baby...

jcsntms06

My first was born at 33 weeks and so at about 18 months (when I went in for my yearly gyn appointment) I talked with my doctor and she gave me the facts. We got pregnant again about a month later with #2. My doctor started monitoring me very closely from the beginning. I highly recommend seeing your doctor before trying again. I definitely help with some of the fears. I did have DD#2 early too at 34 weeks for PTL, not pre-e like my first. It was much hardier the second time around with a NICU stay, because I already had a baby at home.

My advice is try to stay calm and enjoy this time. I miss being pregnant and I just wish that I could of had a full term baby. 

KatFCo

I'll try to answer. DD was born 23w6d due to spontaneous preterm labor, which is code for "we have no idea what the heck happened."

I had always wanted our kids to be close together, but I was in grad school at the time and knew there was a possibility I'd end up on bedrest, so we had to carefully plan when to try again so it wouldn't mess up my schooling. I was very nervous to have another preemie.

When I got pregnant, every week that went by was a mini celebration, but I also began feeling more and more nervous as I approached that 23rd week. As I got more into the third trimester, I relaxed a lot more. In fact, I was probably one of the happiest heavily pregnant women you'd ever encounter! I was just thrilled to still be pregnant so I relished everything. DS was born at 39 weeks.

When he came home, we were like first time parents, having a newborn who wasn't on a NICU schedule. I admit though, I do get tired of all the reminders of how different it is having a big, full term baby to having the little one we had before.

Deciding to have another after having a preemie is both frightening and exciting. When you do again, just make sure you never watch any TV shows that feature women having babies!

damabo80

I have a FT after a preemie. It's been different but in a good way. The NB stage is going by much quicker with him, so I am trying to enjoy it more. He wasn't iugr, so he's wearing 36m cloths at 2m. He flew through the NB sizes in a week, whereas DD spent 4m in tgem. So I need to plan clothing differently. Even now, DD who is 18m, still wears 12m and even 9m things.

I get comments from strangers "wow how. Far apart are they? 10 minutes?" Because he's so big and she's so tiny.

I'm more relaxed about passing him around. I'm not deathly afraid of him getting sick. So I'm more relaxed this time as well.

It's different, but in all good ways.
That feeling of being discharged from the hospital with your FT baby and having people visit you in the hospital and they can hold your FT baby is awesome. Beyond awesome.