Will be joining the Preemie world today!

Mrs. Alice · July 2011

I posted on here a few weeks back when I was admitted at 24 weeks. Well today we had a growth u/s and baby A has dropped near 5%, so it's time now. My c/s is scheduled for later this afternoon, so I've got a little time to anxiously kill before then. I am trying not to freak out, but it's a little hard not be scared and nervous. Any other 28 weeker mamas on here? What were things like at first?

crazyanimals · July 2011

Best of luck! It will be a long road (we had a 30 weeker), just take one day at a time, and accept the help offered to you by friends and family, it really is a blessing!

Natalie_may · July 2011

I had the boys at 27 weeks, so at a comparable GA. As PP said it will be a long road and the NICU roller coaster is a very accurate descriptor. Stay positive and as hard as it may be take care of yourself as much as you can. You need to be healthy in order to best care for your babies. Good luck and keep us posted.

njdcgirl · July 2011

Good luck and good job at keeping them in until 28 weeks. I'm sure bedrest is very difficult. I hope your LOs have an easy NICU stay. We are all here cheering you on!

katie4253 · July 2011

I'll be thinking of you today!!

jcsntms06 · July 2011

Praying for you and your boys. Please keep us posted.

MrsLee22 · July 2011

You have done AMAZING keeping them in as long as you have. I hope your delivery is smooth and your NICU stay is uneventful. I'll be praying for you and your boys today!

devinjonesrn · July 2011

Prayers for a safe delivery! Below is an email I wrote to a friend who had a preemie...Its long, but contains my words of wisdom regarding the NICU. hope it helps!

Oh, my heart goes out to you! Four and a half months ago we were standing where you are in the NICU, staring at our teenie tiny 29w6d preemies. They were so small and hairy and they didn't really look like either my husband or me, in fact we thought they looked like monkeys, and so the theme of their nursery was born. We hadn't put a nursery together yet...we were caught off guard by their early arrival! I went through so many emotions those first few days, most of which were not really happy. I was scared and mad and felt guilty like my body or I had failed them in some way. I felt sad that our "birth experience" was NOTHING like I had been dreaming for the previous 30 weeks that it would be. I didn't feel like I was connected to them the way all the gushing moms on TLC were connected to their babies. I looked into their isolettes and thought, "whose babies are these?!" It felt like they belonged to the hospital more than to us...what about the part where they lay the baby on my chest and we all cry tears of joy instead of tears of fear and sorrow? I needed someone to tell me it was okay that I didn't really feel "bonded" with them, so if you're feeling that at all, its okay! It will come through out your stay in the NICU and more so after your little one comes home. At the same time I loved them so much and feared for their safety. I wondered about their future, would they survive? Would they have a normal life? Would they be smart or have trouble in school because of all of this? About a million and one things go through your sleep deprived post partum mind!

OUR STORY: Our babies had a relatively uneventful stay in the NICU. They were intubated for 12 hours in order to get surfactant but were off the vent and on high-flow nasal cannulas the first night. They were both started on caffeine for apnea and brady spells and I remember being SO SCARED when the monitor would alarm and I could see their heart rate drop. Sometimes they came out of it on their own, sometimes the nurses had to stimulate them, but they always came out of it and the nurses assured me it was all normal preemie stuff.

Wyatt had a Grade II intraventricular hemorrhage and Annabelle had a grade I. Hearing this news was probably one of the low points in our stay, but by their follow up scans Wyatt's was totally healed/gone and Annabelle's had turned into a cyst that was apparently a normal part of the healing process. Wyatt was off of oxygen the first week and Anna didn't get rid of hers until a week before she got home...which reminds me, Wyatt was in the NICU for 47 days (36ish w gest) and Annabelle for 57 days (38ish weeks).

Annabelle started having MAJOR (40s-50s) de-sat spells just one day out of the blue and they didn't stop until about 10 days before she came home. The cause of this was diagnosed as reflux and I could see that she was in pain and that the spells occurred during or right after she was fed. Took a while for them to medicate her for it and when they did they put her on Zantac...this didn't work for weeks and she was finally switched to prevacid...not long after the switch the desat episodes stopped...but they went on for most of her stay and she just couldn't get off of oxygen. So frustrating the whole time.

Anyway, we had a couple infection scares with Annabelle, where they would do cultures and urine sample and chest x-ray and start antibiotics, but she always came back clear. I think that is the majority of their medical NICU adventure...Not too bad compared to what could have been.

ISOLETTES: Some things that helped me personalize their isolettes were LOTS of cute receiving blankets. I made isolette covers for them by taking a 30x40 fleece blanket from target and sewing fleece on three sides (they were in giraffe isolettes) to hang down and cover the port holes. I made scrapbook style name signs that I put into sheet protectors and hung on the outside of their isolettes so the nurses would learn the babies' names instead of calling them "twin A" and "twin B." You can hang a small picture of you and your husband on the inside of the isolette for the baby, but more so for the staff to see that your baby is part of a family that loves him, and not just a "thing" to be fed and changed every three hours. I (being a nurse) loved when pts brought in pictures of them when they were healthy and with their family. Just makes a patient seem more like a person. My mom made the babies laundry bags with their names on them to collect the dirty blankets (and eventually clothes). I LOVED doing their laundry. Somehow it felt like it was something I could do for them that was "normal" and in those first few days/weeks when you can't do much for them it feels good to take care of them in that way.

HANDS ON: Speaking of things you can do for them very early on they let us start changing diapers and taking temperatures. I tried to be there in time for every hands on time during the day in order to change their diapers and take their temperatures. I eventually got to the point of taking their blood pressures, cleaning their mouths with a moistened 4x4, giving baths, giving bottles, nursing and the list goes on!

PUMPING: Not sure if they have been encouraging you to pump, or not but they did for our little ones and that kind of became my life. Some things that I found super helpful were Lanolin cream (applied before pumping reduces friction) the Medela hands free bustier (LIFESAVER!!) I would highly recommend renting a hospital grade pump if you haven't already! Some insurances cover this. I personally prefer the lansinoh freezer bags, they freeze flatter which I think makes for better storage. I also printed up address labels with the babies' medical record numbers etc so all I had to do was write the date and time. The lactation consultant told me to stick the entire pumping set-up ( flanges etc) into the fridge between pumpings in order to re-use them. This cuts WAY back on the amount of pump part washing you'll have to do. I only pump a couple times a day now, so I use the same pump set up for 12-24hrs and then get a new one. This has been an AWESOME suggestion, and I wish I would have heard about it sooner!
HUSBANDS: Mine is wonderful. So helpful, so loving, great with the babies, but during our NICU stay I felt like he just didn't get it. He wasn't there as much as I was, he didn't seem really bothered when we had to leave, and wasn't always watching the clock to get back in time for "hands on" the way I was. It hurt my feelings. Although I knew he cared, I felt like he should care more. I kept having to tell myself that men and women are different in the way they deal with things. He told me that he felt like they were in the best place and that he was confident they were fine when we weren't there. I felt like people would judge me if I wasn't there as much as possible. You may have a few arguments, and some tears, and this is all normal because of the stress. I eventually ended up staying at the hospital over night when the babies started to nurse, and one of the best things I did was take a night off and go home. My husband and I ate pizza and drank beer- in bed- and re-connected for just one night. I had enough milk that I could "pump and dump" and the babies were no worse for the wear not having me there for one night. My point is, go on a date or have a date at home...it's refreshing.
I've been writing this email in parts for like 3 weeks, now so I hope it makes sense and isn't too choppy! Life is busy with two big healthy babies at home! Hang in there. This was one of the hardest things I've been through, but we survived and the NICU is quickly becoming a distant memory!
Blessings,
Devin Jones

mrsV719 · July 2011

Like PPs said... it will be a long road. There are ups and downs. The hardest part is actually when you get close to going home. But you will go through a lot of things and learn a lot. The nurses will become your best friends and your family. It will be hard to leave your LO at the hospital when you go home and at first you run on adrenalin and just somehow make it through. Ask a lot of questions of the Drs. and nurses and US! Be as hands on as possible... kangaroo care, change diapers, take temperatures (when you can... which you won't be able to at first).

I was 28w4d when I had my c-section. LO is now 5 months (tomorrow!! How?!?!) and is a really perfect little guy. He has terrible reflux.. but full term babies have reflux. He has some slight muscle tone stuff that is typical... but you will get early intervention services and they will help with what to do. We had a fairly uneventful stay at the NICU/SCN... but it was long.... 82 days (11.5 weeks). We were discharged the day after his due date. The end was torture. At first... you KNOW that they need to be there to be taken care of... but at the end... they seem like typical babies that should be going home... and yet.. they are still there. That is hard. But know that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.... the Kindergarten bus doesn't pick them up at the hospital... they do eventually get out.

Just know that we are all here for you and have been in your shoes... so please ask away here... this board was so incredibly helpful when I was going through it.... no one understands like we do! Good Luck!

urbanflowerpot · July 2011

Welcome to Preemieland! I hope everything goes smoothly today & will be looking for an update soon

neko621 · July 2011

Hi there!! I had my twins 2 weeks ago at 27 weeks. My water broke at 26wk4d, and I only made it 3 more days on hospital bed rest before the babies came. My c/s went well and was uneventful. Both babies had to be transferred to a hospital 1 1/2 hours from our home because the NICU I delivered at became full 2 hours before my c/s.

The NICU has been like a roller coaster for us. The babes will take a couple steps forward, then a few back. Apparently it's all part of the process, but that doesn't make it any easier. Both of my little ones are doing well and have made strides with their feeding and breathing issues.

I know how scary it is...I was just in your shoes 2 weeks ago. Hang in there. You can msg me if you would like. I'm thinking of you and I hope everything goes well.

ChickensFive · July 2011

Congratulations! I hope everything went well this afternoon.

I had my triplets at 27 weeks 2 days. One of my girls had IUGR; she measured 23 weeks and weighed 1lb 2ozs. Like pp have mentioned, you have a long road ahead of you with many up and downs. My girls have been in the NICU for 75 days. Two are coming home tomorrow but my littlest one is staying for another few weeks. It's been a long time spent there but trust me It goes by so fast.

Take care of yourself and don't forget to take your pain meds. It helps a lot.