Premature Baby?

hey there Trish, I hope you find someone to share experiences with. Failing that, I know of a great site and support group formed by one of the mums that came through our unit, and the ladies on there have all had micro-prems... a fair few have come through our unit but i do know that there are a few from other places too so I am sure that you could join up with them as well. :)

http://earlyarrivals.org.nz/

check it out if you like.

Hi Trish,

My first baby was due 23 Oct 09, however decided to make a very early entrance at 28 weeks on 1 Aug, weighing 3lbs 1oz. We were told she was big for her gestation, although to us she was tiny.

As Jade was born in Whangarei, we were flown to Auckland City Hospital within a few hours of her arriving, and she has been in level 3 NICU for the last 3 and a half weeks. A couple of days ago she was moved to level 2, and yesterday we were transferred back to Whangarei where we've been told she'll probably stay for another month.

She is doing as well as can be expected, but to be honest I've found the move quite hard to deal with, I think in part because as she's our first baby, I have kind of associated being her mum with auckland hosp. and its staff - now all of a sudden places, routines and people are different, so I am trying to get used to that at the moment, which to be honest, I'm having a bit of a hard time dealing with.

I know we're half way there to getting home now, she is 32 weeks today, but sometimes I wonder if its ever going to end! Each day is one more day closer to bringing her home, which we are thankful for, but sometimes the 'why did this happen to me?' train of thought plays over and over in my mind. Although I realise I'm not the only one this has happened to, sometimes it feels like it!   

Would also love to hear from anyone with any advice on anything really.. I'm not too sure what to expect once we are actually able to bring her home, as exciting as the prospect is.   

Megs

I must go and check out that website!

My little one was born at 26 weeks, 1 day gestation, weighting 1.180kgs. In total, we spent just over 5 months in hospital. We also did 6 weeks in level 3 NICU Auckland. I found going back to Wgtn very difficult to deal with. In fact each hospital transfer we did, I found hard.

How is everything going now Meggls?

Great to hear you are home now meggls Isn't it a great feeling to have that all behind you I will never take for granted having both of my boys home together.

My son is doing ok. He's still go many health issues, but he surprises me everyday on how far he has come

At least you are home in the warmer months too, hopefully there are a lot less bugs are.

Tastic, sorry its taken me so long to reply. After spending so much time in hospital, I did everything I could to keep Jacob out of hospital during the winter months. So basically, we didn't go anywhere all winter and if we did, Jacob was under his storm cover. Thankfully, we only had to go to hospital twice since Jacob left in May

Happy belated 3rd birthday to Aidan

NikkiB, Not sure if you've heard of us or not but my son Harlow was born 19 Nov last year at 24 wks 6 days gestation weighing 725gms. I haven't read the Little treasures magazine, is that this months article?

We are definately struggling here. I love Harlow so much but I feel like a sinking ship sometimes. We managed to bring him home early March but we've had 3 re admissions already as he is such a poor feeder.    He's on oxygen at home for growth, but he is so lethargic that he isn't allowed to leave the house just yet and I am sooooo worried about him picking up something as simple as a cold and with 3 older brothers and winter approaching I'm sure it's bound to happen at some point.   I see you're WGTN based, where abouts are you?

Tastic - did you ever get re-admitted during the cold/flu season with Aidan?

H Juzzo. Wow, Harlow was early!!!

The story is in this month's article. I thought it was very interesting and it will give people a bit of insight to what we all have been through.

I totally understand your fears. We are approaching our second winter now and I'm still paranoid that we'll end up back in hospital again. Jacob came home in June last year, we spent (more or less) the whole winter at home. Jacob was also on home oxygen because of his chronic lung disease. We were admitted twice to hospital last winter. I'm a little bit luckier I guess, my 2 1/2 year old isn't at kindy yet, so isn't bringing home any bugs. We make people stay away if they are sick and whenever we go out in a croud, we keep Jacob under his storm cover in his pram.

All you can really do is keep him warm, well rested and away from as many bugs as you can.

I'm in Lower Hutt, where abouts are you?

Oh one more question, and I can't remember if you've told me this already Tastic, but did either of you end up tube feeding at home? If so, how long for?    

My gosh NikkiB, that sounds rather difficult.   Yay to the eating! I can see why that would be such an emormous hurdle!   Does he get his entire feed through his tube or did you try bottle/breastfeeding?    Sorry to ask such a difficult question but do you feel like it's affected your bond with him?

We initially came home tube feeding but we were re-admitted within 20hrs because Harlow picked up a virus and at that point I said I didn't want to tube feed at home. So they put him on a lower amount of EBM and added Duocal and that has helped but he's now starting to run out of steam again. The Homecare nurse has said that an NGT is the only option next. I'm so reluctant to tube feed as I feel that my bond with him may not be the same.

Thank goodness you get respite care, how does your eldest son cope?

Thanks Raspberryjam, good to hear of others having to do NGT's.   He's currently on bottles, I've got to ring Homecare on Monday so we'll see what happens but I suspect that's the road we're going to have to head down. Does Milla have a heart condition and that's why she didn't have the energy?