Mums supporting each other

Hi,

I'll jump in here too. My tiny Isaac was born at 30 weeks. He's now 32 + 1 and doing so well. I had a very small placenta which was not able to sustain his growth past about 27 weeks so he had IUGR. My anatomy scan at 20 weeks showed no abnormalities and basically my boy is fully formed and perfect in every way, except weighed 2.1lbs at birth and is only 37cm long.

Have to admire the staff at the NICU dealing with such tiny babies, but they do a fantastic job and make me feel that my baby is in a safe and happy place.

I especially love doing cares, and of course my skin to skin cuddles.

I did two hours today and just love how my boy snuggles in to me and sleeps so soundly. I wish for the time to never end. Every time I see my little fella my heart just melts. He's super tiny, but so so perfect!

Hey Jacqui,

I was just thinking of you and popped in here to leave you a message.

Love grumpy days, even if it means short cuddles. To me it feels like one more "normal" thing Isaac does. We had a grumpy day on Tuesday and although he wasn't crying he kept dropping his heart rate, which he hardly ever does. He had his eyes tested in the morning and also a blood test so had been protesting loudly at that being done. The rest of the day he was mucking around and setting his monitors off so we didn't disturb him much.

My nurses here said that the babies protesting to the tubes up their nose is a good sign. That was how Isaac ended up off the respirator. He kept pulling out the tubes. Some babies may only tolerate being off for a little while, but the fact that its annoying him is a good sign.

We share a room with two other wee boys, a 25 weeker and a 26 weeker, and they both still need the respirator. It truly is the difference between being born before or after 30 weeks, but your boy will get there. Mine is only there because he managed 3 extra weeks inside. A friend of mine had her boy at 32 weeks and was in the same NICU. She is already home now so I understand how you feel to see another baby doing so well when all you want is for yours to be home. It will happen!

Isaac just blows me away with his strength. I am so proud of my tiny wee man. He gained about 64g since Sunday and is now 1175g. Not sure where it's all gone though as he's still scrawny!

Yesterday I was able to put him to my breast as he is showing signs of wanting to suck. He's still very little though so didn't expect much, but he managed a little suck and then seemed happy to just lie close to me. I was pretty much left to it, which I was surprised at. I thought the nurses would help me latch him on, so it's possible I just wasn't doing it right. Trying to hold a 37cm baby, and latch him on felt very awkward. But still a special moment.

Was given my licence back yesterday too, but only for driving to the hospital and home so it means I can be there as much as I want! Such a relief.

Hope Marty is off the CPAP real soon.

Xx

Oh Jacqui, yay for moving closer to home. It must be that Marty is doing just fine or they wouldn't move him!

Isaac took a little step sideways today. Whereas normally he is super stable, over the past few days he has been dropping his sats, and today was doing it quite often and didn't want to wake up as much. So they checked him over and gave him some lo flow oxygen just to give him a rest. His sats immediately came up, and he very quickly pulled the prongs from his nose, but hopefully they can get him to keep it on for the whole night. They also took full blood count to check for any infections starting that may be affecting his breathing. Wll only get the results tomorrow but whilst I know it's precautionary, there's always the possibility it finds something.

Can't really complain as up to this point we have done nothing but take steps forward, and I know my boy is so strong. Still, was very hard to leave him today. I was still there after 6pm. My heart broke as I walked out tonight. I wanted to sit at his bedside.

My friend came to visit today and gave Isaac his first book which I read to him during an afternoon cuddle. He just stared up at me. I loved it. It felt quite emotional.

I love how these tiny boys already know what they want. Today Isaac didn't want Kangaroo cuddles, he wanted to be held in my arms, or on my lap and drift off to sleep. He was pretty good on the breast today, had a few little suckles, more than yesterday. We are heading in the right direction!

Hey my lovely ladies.

My goodness you are both doing so well with your men! I adore skin to skin. I love how he settles, how it feels, what it does to my hormones...yay for our bodies huh!

I am lucky having had those extra few weeks. My man hasn't needed oxygen, and moved just yesterday to his full feeds through his NG.

Awesome if Marty gets to move to Hutt soon Jacquie. Leaving is so hard!

How are you guys going with expressing?

Good to "see" you back on here Peppermint! And great to hear your boy is doing so well. The extra weeks inside make so much difference!

My expressing isn't too bad. I get between 70 and 100mls every three to four hours. I think that is still a little short of the target of 600ml in 24 hours but is's really hard to get "normal" results in an artificial way, in my opinion! Hopefully once Isaac is taking feeds for himself it will increase naturally.

Peppermint, you are right that our bodies do amazing things. I haven't had skin to skin cuddles for a few days as Isaac has decided he doesn't want to be held like that. Instead he loves being in my arms and looking at me. I talk constantly to him and he will eventually drift off to sleep. Just love that he loves the sounds of my voice!

Well, it is that wonderful expressing time for me! Aargghhhh!

Xx

Peppermint, the milk can last four months in the freezer, but of course fresh milk is best. I have a freezer full of milk, and only take a little at a time into the NICU. I always express at least two to three times while I am there and leave Isaac with fresh milk plus what they have defrosted. If it helps I number my bottles, for example, today Isaac is 19 days old, so I write "19" on the lid of every pot, that way when I am looking for milk I know which is oldest.

One of the nurses in the NICU said to only bring in frozen onky as they need.it, and it will be useful to have extra in my freezer so when he's home I can have a wine without worrying about it. Thought that was a brilliant idea! We plan on having a welcome home party to replace my baby shower that I missed, and also DP's friends are asking when he will have "wet the baby's head" drinks. He wasn't keen as its a big expense as any old joe blogs turns up for the free drinks. This way we get to have something at home with all of our invited friends instead. Frozen milk will mean I can have a celebratory glass of bubbles to welcome my boy home.

Good on you peppermint for doing hand expressing. I tried but am completely rubbish at it!

Just got to add that I love the feeling of breast feeding Isaac. He's still to little to actually draw any milk, but I think I drip into his mouth as I see him swallow and he's very happy to just sit with my nipple in his mouth and only have the occasional attempt at sucking. Just the fact he knows what to do is one of those much celebrated milestones!

Yes please peppermint. I think it may be useful to be able to hand express even a little as it may help with latching Isaac on. He does latch pretty easy and sucks a little more each day but if I express enough to ensure there is some milk there he may get the taste and get going. I have to express first before I latch him, so I don't drown th little fella with a massive milk flow!

JD, how is Marty today?

Oh goodness Jacqui, I did not hand express by myself at the start. My partner sat there with a syringe and sucked up every precious drop. I am incredibly fortunate that he was able to be off work the whole time I was in hospital. Later on, I would just lean over and squeezed in to the bottle - I have stopped this now, and just do 'hand on' pumping, manipulating the ducts that need emptying.

I am no expert, but I wouldn't worry about your supply. You only need to be making enough for Marty now, and can increase it at a later date. I need to be careful to make sure I don't start over supplying.

Here is the link

http://newborns.stanford.edu/Breastfeeding/MaxProduction.html

Baby boy is one week old this evening. Can't believe I have been a mum for a whole week :)

Jacqui, Partner and Marty...you are a legends :)

Jacqui, yay for moving out of the incubator and also for reaching the long awaited milestone of clothes. I am completely envious, but know that time is not that far for me after Isaac gained 130g since Wednesday and is now weighing in at 1300g. Am really hoping they move him to a bed in the next few weeks.

Found things a bit tough today. To be honest I hate the weekends as DP always has a list of things for me to do and doesn't see why I need to be at the hospital all day as Isaac doesn't know I'm there and doesn't do much anyway. Of course I don't see it that way. I want and need to be close to my boy, and I will know I was there. And he does do quite a bit... He poos and wees and needs changing, he needs feeding every two hours and of course the magical cuddle time and story time.... Before I know it, a whole day has passed and I'll go back and do it again the next day.

Today we went to catch up with some friends for lunch on the way up to the hospital. He knew I wanted to be there by 2 so I could express, then do cares and feed Isaac while I latch him on so he learns to associate the smell of my milk, sucking and getting a full tummy. So at 1:30, he decided to drive his mates boat so he could have a ski, which meant we arrived at the hospital at 2:40 and was so rushed. And by 3:40 we had to leave to go and see him mum who is very ill now and in hospital too (a different one to Isaac) Whilst I agreed to have a short visit today, I hated rushing and couldn't help the tears when I left. I wrote on the board that I'd be in by 9:30am tomorrow, and couldn't help comment that I had to make up for the missed time from today!

Sorry for the rant, but it's so frustrating!

Jacqui, what size clothes is Marty wearing? Tiny prem?

Edited by Minny - 10 February 2013 at 8:06pm