Friend is delievering at 32 weeks what to expect??

nuna · September 2009

hello ! My friend is delivering her twins now as we speak and needless to say she is freaked out. Can you help us out ? What can she expect now? How long are the babies going to be in the hospital for? How is being a mommy to a preemie different from a baby born on time??

borc0080 · September 2009

DD was born at 34 weeks. The hardest thing was not being able to take her home right away. She was in the NICU for 3 weeks learning how to eat. Babies born early often don't have the suck reflex, so they have to get their food by a nose tube for a while. The length of their hospital stay will depend on a number of things, so there's no good way to predict until they're born.

You can be a great help by treating her babies like any other newborn -- oohing and aahing over them even if they're covered in scary-looking wires and IVs. You could also offer to drive her to and from the hospital once she goes home and/or keep her company. The days can get long and lonely in the NICU.

Good luck to your friend!

nuna · September 2009

Thank you ! I guess I have to figure out how to spend as much time with her now as possible. Smile

gizmo909 · September 2009

borc0080:
DD was born at 34 weeks. The hardest thing was not being able to take her home right away. She was in the NICU for 3 weeks learning how to eat. Babies born early often don't have the suck reflex, so they have to get their food by a nose tube for a while. The length of their hospital stay will depend on a number of things, so there's no good way to predict until they're born.

You can be a great help by treating her babies like any other newborn -- oohing and aahing over them even if they're covered in scary-looking wires and IVs. You could also offer to drive her to and from the hospital once she goes home and/or keep her company. The days can get long and lonely in the NICU.

Good luck to your friend!

All of this word for word. DS spent 22 days in the NICU and leaving him there was the hardest thing ever.

ETA: Don't be surprised if shes a little more sensitive than usual. The NICU rollercoaster is a hard ride. I felt very cheated and was bitter about things. So, innocent comments like "at least you can catch up on your sleep before DS comes home" really made me mad. I was still getting up at night every 3 hours to pump and leaving DS was so emotionally draining that there was no catching up on sleep! Just know that she will be experiencing a lot of emotions that most people will never understand and be supportive.

franciscaz · September 2009

You know tell your friend to be hopeful and trust the nurses and doctors. Every 32 wk baby is different and so is thier hospital stays. The nurses told me don't expect to take your baby home until their due date. Now it looks like it will be much sooner but I was glad that I had those lower expectations b/c it helped me take things one day at a time and that is the most important thing.

mek10976 · September 2009

DS was born at 32 weeks and did well in the NICU. He was on a ventilator for 24 hours, and then a nasal canula for 1.5 weeks. He was basically a feeder/grower. That is exactly what he did for 27 days - just ate and grew. His biggest hurdles were learning how to feed from a bottle and his reflux. B/c of the reflux, he came home on an apnea monitor, but once his med dosages were figured out, he didn't need the monitor. I think he was off around 6 weeks after discharge (around his due date). He is now a gigantic 9-month old and doing well. Developmentally, he is at his adjusted age of 7.5 months.

Friend is delievering at 32 weeks what to expect??

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