/ 30 weekers Come In

jacque_z

A good friend is set to deliver a 30 weeker within the next 24 hours. I'm trying to give her an idea of what to expect. My 26 weekers journey was unusually long and atypical. Not that any preemie journey is typical but please tell me about your experiences.
Also he's a white male so I'm sure she'll hear a lot of the wimpy white male stuff from the nurses! TIA!!

Missa_g

My boys were born at 29w4d. One boy required the ventilator for a few days while the other just needed the bubble CPAP. They moved to nasal canulas at around 3 weeks and were off oxygen by 6 weeks. My oldest had a grade I IVH and my youngest had a grade II, both resolved quickly. They both had anemia and reflux. They came home on their two month birthday.

Sept30Madison

My 30 weeker was on CPAP for 2 days, cannula for 2 days, and then caffeine for 2-3 weeks.  She was mainly a feeder and grower and came home at exactly 6 weeks old.  Her lasting issues are reflux and feeding aversion.

Brummy14

My girls were born at 29w3d. I ruptured 5 days earlier, so we had plenty of time to get in steroids and antibiotics.

DD2 had an easy road...straight onto CPAP at room air levels for a few weeks, a few more weeks of nasal cannula, then off all o2 support after about 5 weeks following delivery. She came home after 75 days in the NICU. She was slow to learn to bottle feed, and that added easily a month to her stay...she was over Brady and apnea spells well before then. She was an over eager eater, and would regularly choke and hold her breath and just be all over the place. She still does that quite a bit now, but recovers in second, for the most part.

DD1 had it bit tougher. She was intubated the day she was born to put surfactant into her lungs, but she did well on CPAP right away. She struggled to transition off of the high flow nasal cannula...it took three tries over the course of a month. She suffered from reflux and nasty congestion as a result, both of which made bottle feeding even tougher for her. She had apnea spells well until she was 37w, likely a result of her reflux. She came home after 81 days, on a slight amount of o2, and with an NG feeding tube. She's been NG free for the past 3 weeks, and o2 free for the past 10 days or so.

All things considered, we were blessed with an uneventful, albeit long, NICU stay. Some babies get the hang of feeding faster...ours did not fall into that category!!

vsalt31

My 31wker was in the Nicu for 44 days. He struggled with Bs Ds esp when eating. He came home on oxygen flow an apnea monitor for 6wks. The record did show two episodes on the monitor after being home. He did have dual inguinal hernias, an umbilical hernia, a tongue tie, but over all really minor. He is now catching up to other 1yr olds. We continue to do early intervention. Good luck to your friend!

vsalt31

I should also say that he only needed assisted breathing for 2 hrs after birth then was able to breath on his own.

Pips09

My 30 weeker was born at 30w4d and weighed 3 lbs 9 oz. She needed a CPAP for a couple of days, and then had a nasal cannula for several more days. (I did get the steroid shots prior to her birth.) She was mainly a feeder/grower. Her longest lasting issue was B's and A's during feeding. She was discharged after 5 weeks, on an apnea monitor. She is now 19 months old!

Good luck to your friend! 

sdtchica13

Corri was 29w, 6d (like 12 hours shy of 30 weeks). I only got one steroid shot and it was 12 hours before I gave birth, so it didn;t help much. That being said, we had a long but pretty boring NICU stay. She was on CPAP for just under 2 weeks and then a nasal cannula for just under another 2 weeks (She was born March 5th and was off all breathing apparatus on April 1st). We were lucky in that she had no brain bleeds, no NEC, no surgeries, etc. She had a PDA, which we still go to periodic cardiologist appointments to check on, but it's almost fully closed now. Our biggest issue was getting her to take a bottle, as the "suck, swallow, breathe" reflex took a while for her to fully grasp, so we ended up with a 9 week NICU stay. 

 

Good luck to your friend! 

urbanflowerpot

I'm not a fan of the preemie crystal ball - I know she's trying to learn about others around her GA but each is so unique that I think learning about preemies and NICU in general is a better idea.

DS was born at 30.6. He was on CPAP for a couple days. I couldn't hold him for over 24 hours. He was in the incubator for about a month - we were in NICU for two. He had major brady issues that were later linked to silent reflux when we were readmitted to NICU two weeks after our discharge. He was on an apnea monitor for four months after NICU. He was on meds until 11 mo actual. He is considered caught up by the clinic now but has icky lungs that gave us a bad first RSV season but doing better so far this year.

My birth story is here: https://urbanflowerpot.blogspot.com/p/love-plus-one.html 

Piper345

My DS was born at 30.5. He was inubated for about 12 hours and then on and off room air cpap for almost 4 weeks. He had a harder time with weight gain and reflux issues that caused bradys but overall his 6.5 week stay was uneventful and pretty much "textbook" for a 30 weeker. Thankfully he didnt have many issues once he came home besides reflux. He is now 21 months and totally caught up developmentally. He is avg height for his actual age but still on the low end for weight. GL to your friend

jacque_z

Thanks ladies for all the replies.  She actually hasn't delivered yet which is great.  They finally got contractions under control and her fever broke.  Her doctor seems to think she could cruise for a while.  Let's hope!