Premature babies and threatened premature delivery

I'm sure she will be fine sweetheart, they will probably keep you in an extra couple of days to make sure the feeding routine is established, that's the main thing they look for before you can take and early one home. As for the age correction, she shouldn't be too affected by it, but if she is a little delayed in smiling, etc, don't be disheartened. It took a long time for Damien to smile and it seems like you're there forever with a non-responsive baby, btu it does get better Other than smiling, she probably won't be affected, if she even is with smiling.
It's lovely your OH gets to stay with you, that's one thing I don't agree with in England, the fact your partner has to leave, it's just not fair. I felt so lonely on the maternity ward without my baby and no one to talk to.

Thanks for sharing your story weestar, the picture of Adele is so beautiful and yet so scary. Seeing her doing so well gives me miles of courage this time.

 

[weestar21]

i forgot to add to my story 3 days before Adele was allowed home i had to go into hospital on the friday night and stay till the monday in a little room in the neonatal unit where Adele was in with me just incase anything went wrong i had the whole hospital on the other end of the door. OH just stayed the sunday night and we brought her home on the monday and i must say that did help alot it gave me a proper chance to bond with her on my own

Im glad my story has helped sami but it is true what hospitals can do now a days is amazing. And Adele just proves their is hope for all tiny pre term babies


xxxxxxxxx

 

[Manda]

my story is a little long sorry!

I found out i was pregnant at about 4 weeks and a couple of days later started bleeding, at 5 weeks i had a early scan and it showed a heart beat, as i was still bleeding i had another scan at 7 weeks there was still a heart beat and the foetus had grown th right amount in a week and a half and there was now a heart beat and a little kidney bean shape as most of you know i emigrated to Australia when i was 8 weeks pregnant, this was around the time that the bleeding stopped and the morning sickness kicked in, anyway things went ok the nutil 11 1/2 weeks, i had been to a friends and felt fine she took me home and i started making myself dinner when i felt a gush, i went to the toilet and couldn't believe what was happening, i was bleeding so heavy that it looked like someone had been murdered the blood was runing from me as water would from a tap, i was at home on my own and was terrified, i also passed lots of clots. The bleeding finally eased off and when Dan got home from work he took me to hospital where they said looking at what i'd passsed i had miscarried but they needed to scan me to make sure all at come away, when the dr scannd me everyone was gobsmacked there was my little baby jumping around so dr checked my cervix and it was still closed so they allowed me home and was told to take it easy, they think i might have been carrying twins and lost one, apparently on an early scan as long as they see one heartbeat they wont check for further ones.
As you can imagine the next couple of weeks i was petrified, then i finally started to relax again, i had my appointment with the midwife and filled all the forms in, as i had had surgery on my cervix for precancerous cells i was told i would need to see a dr, when i went to see her at 17 weeks she told me that i could suffer with incompetent cervix due to the biopsy i had done, i would need to have my cervix measured.

After having the scan my worst nightmare was revealed that i was suffering from an incompetent cervix and the initial thought was i might not carry past 20 weeks, i was given the option of having my cervix sticthed or being closely monitored, i was told the stitch itself could bring on prem labour or cause miscarriage so after much thinking decided to let nature take it's course, i had a cervical scan every 2 weeks from this time until 32 weeks, it showed my cervix was shortening and at oone point was only 0.5cm long and funneling (opening), so ispent all my time either in bed or at the hospital until i reached 28 weeks and i finally started feeling confident that if the baby was born now she had a good chance of surviving.

Things were going well then at around 30 weeks my waters started leeking but would then stop and start again what a nightmare and talk about embarrasing!

Then at 33 weeks i went to the hospital as i lost quite a bit of water they monitored me and baby and admitted me as i was in labour, thankfully they managed to stop the labour but i had to have steroid injection s for babys lungs just in case she was born soon, i spent a week in hospital and was then released.

One morning at 35 weeks i noticed blood so again went to hospital i was monitored and examined i was 2cm dilated and told i was being admitted until baby was born, my waters then broke at 4.30pm on ther own and i went in to full blown labour at midnight, i was ready to push by 3am but could not deliver Abi so i had to have forceps delivery, it turned out Abi was back to back which is why i couldn't push her out, she was rushed off to SCBU and Dan was sent along with her whilst i was left to deliver the placenta, Dan came back to find i had been rushed to theatre, the placenta would not seperate from my uterus and i started to haemorrhage, i was told i might need a hystorectomy if they couldnt stop the bleed, by this point i didn't care, anyway luckily they stopped the bleeding but i had lost over half of my bodys blood and it took me a good 3 days to feel anywhere near normal.

Abi had to have a feeding tube as she was struggling to feed properly although she would have a good go, she was 6lb 2 born at 35 weeks which was a good weight, she was severley jaundiced and spent 8 days having photo therapy which was hard as i could only hold her to feed her, she spent 11 days in SCBU before finally coming home with her feeding tube still in which was horrid ut within 2 days had it taken out and ever since she has come on leaps and bounds and is ahead of her age now, she will be one next week can't believe it!

As for injections i was told they would be done at babys actual age not her corrected, which is what was done if you are told it will be done at the corrected age please get a secong opinion, my friends baby was born at 27 weeks and his injections were also done at his actual age.

After all i went through i'm still keen to have another baby although i will wait at least another year, i'm petrified but fingers crossed things will go more smoothly this time as my cervix will be stitched at 12 weeks, and again i will be closely monitore, one thing that does scare me is the healthcare i will get her in the UK as Australias medical care was fantastic.

Sorry it was soooooooooooo long

 

[skatty]

Manda, what a horrible experience Abi is beautiful though and waht a good weight for an early baby!

 

[Bagpuss17]

Weestar and Manda, you both sound like you've been through it with your prem baby experiences. Thank goodness everything is OK with both your children. Glad that it hasn't put you off having another baby Manda, hope everything goes OK for you next time.

 

I thought I should post my long story. It's copied from Damien's site so bear with it!!


Damien had a very interesting entry into the world, and one that wasn't quite yet expected! He arrived on the 18th December 2005 at 16am and was 6 weeks premature.

Sami was in slow labour for a week before things really got going. Her contractions started 4am Saturday 17th and she was totally convinced this time that it was finally it (after stopping and starting all week)....but they by 11am ish they had started to hurt less so we thought it was another false start. But then at 2:30pm they came back and they were even stronger. We wanted to stay at home as long as possible so Sami just breathed through them and I packed the hospital bag.

At 5:30pm she went to sit on the loo (as you do) and her waters broke!! We telephoned the hospital and the silly midiwfe asked if she was sure it was her waters and that she'd not just wee'd! We confirmed the obvious and she told us to come in straight away because Sami was only 34weeks pregnant...so off we went, towel between her legs.

We arrived at Bedford hospital at 6pm. Her contractions had got very strong now that her waters had gone. They gave her co-codomol to take the edge off the pain but we knew it wouldn't do anything for her and within 15minutes she was on Gas and Air..........'quote Sami "how good is that stuff!!" Kicked in and worked brilliantly.
The hospital had to contact the NeoNatel unit to see if they had space for Damien (when he was born) down in SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit) but they didn't and we found out we would have to be transferred to another hospital miles away from us. Ambulance men arrived to take me, Sami and the midwife to Luton & Dunstable hospital. Before we left, the midwife checked Sami and she was 3-4cm dilated. The midwife was a little concerned that because Sami was progressing quickly that she might have the baby in the ambulance and she wanted to make sure it wasn't going to happen!

On the journey there Sami asked for an epidural as she was really feeling the strain. She was told she could have one when we got to L&D hospital but when we got there they examined her and she was already 7cm!! She was too late for one by this time. So she carried on with the gas and air. Sami's mum Carolyn had arrived at the hospital by this point and was supporting Sami (and me) through it.

(From Sami) "Mark by the way, was the most fantastic birthing partner I could ever have hoped for. He wasn't squeemish at all like he thought he would be. He said the right things when I needed to hear them, he gave me a drink just when he'd know I'd need it, and he put up with me nearly breaking his hand from squeezing it. He was excellent."

Sami started getting the urge to push and the midwife told her to push when she felt ready and we'ed see what happened. She wasn't keen on examining her too many times and said nature would let her know when it was time. So she started to push with her contractions. They had slowed down and got further apart so it was hard work for her pushing against them.

After a good few pushes Damien came into the world at 016am. He weighed in at a very healthy 5lb 13oz (2.635kg) and had apgar scores of 9/1 and 10/5 which is excellent considering he was born at 34 weeks gestation. He didn't need any help with his breathing and was handed back to Sami when his checks were done and he was cleaned up.

Sunday, December 18, 2005
Birth date... Me and Damien were taken up to the Transistional Care department after he was born as it was decided he didn't need SCBU help (special care baby unit) but just needed an extra eye on him for a few days at least. His first feed was from a cup as I still wanted to breast feed him eventually. He brought all his first feed back up but they let him settle to sleep. At his next feed they checked his blood sugar levels and they were low, and again he brought up all of his milk. His next feed his blood suger levels were even lower and he had to have a feeding tube put in But even then he was still sick when he had milk so they decided it would be best to take him to the special care baby unit to be monitored and try him on very small feeds frequently or give him IV fluids. I can't tell you how much I cried watching them put that tube in his nose. It was heartbreaking, he was so weak he didn't even cry Down on SCBU he was being fed every 2 hours and having 20mls of formula milk. By 7pm they had upped him to 3 hourly feeds of 30mls because he was keeping it down...progress at last! At his 1am feed we tried him on the bottle and he took it and had his milk that way - we were so proud of him

Monday, December 19, 2005
1 day old! I was told at 7am that they may have space for me and Damien back at Bedford hospital and that we could be being transferred that day! The team arrived to pick him up and put him in an transporting incubator. We were going back into Transitional care too when we got back as he was feeding by a bottle and keeping it down. Yippee! Mark had to drive me seperately to Damien as there wasn't enough room in the ambulance. It was the longest car journey I have ever done and took us an hour till we reached him again. The hospital had decided to feed Damien when he got there (about 20minutes before us) but he brought all of it back up. I had to top-up feed him till 2am to try and get his routine back and try to make sure he'd got his fill. His IV in his arm was taken out when we got there but his feeding tube was left in just incase he started being sick again. They took his SBR blood levels as he was looking a little jandice and they came back just below treatment level, but just to be extra careful they put him on a Biliblanket to help the jaundice levels go down quicker.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005
2 days old. NGT finally taken out as it hadn't been used for over 24 hours - yay!! Still on Biliblanket and still not strong enough to breastfeed.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005
3 days old. Milk came in this morning - ouch! Damien's feeds upped to 40mls 3 hourly. SBR bloods taken again and they are low enough to take him off the Biliblanket. Started expressing milk for him to have instead of formula but was being sick in the evening again. Finally back into his routine by 4am.

Thursday, December 22, 2005
4 days old. Damien is now on 50mls every 3 hours. He was weighed again today and weighs 5lb 6.5 oz (2.460kg) so he only lost 175g (7oz / 7% of his birth weight). I am so pleased. SBR levels checked again and his jaundice was going down. Tried breastfeeding again and he gave it a little go but still not that interested. He is having expressed milk for most of his feeds but topping up with formula sometimes.

I can't find the bit about going home but he did on day 5. Was a bit scary but he was really good and the midwives and paediatritions were shocked with his how reamarkable he was doing considering he shouldn't have been here for another month!

 

[weestar21]

awwwww what amazing stories manda and sami its just so great that all our babies were little fighters

im also so glad with our experiances it can show other people how well they do turn out with all teh help from the hospitals

and every pregnancy is different!! i went from one pre term to having to be induced second time round so you just never know what will happen


good luck and all the very best to you all
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[BubbleB]

i havent posted amelies birth story yet lol

well at about 29 weeks i had mild contractions so i was rushed to hospital and given steroid injections for her lungs and somethin else to slow down labour. the contractions stopeed so i was sent home and told that if anythihn else happened i had to go straight back to hospital

then at 30 weeks + 5 days i went into labour again and began having really strong contractions and then at 3am my waters broke

lots of gas and air later at 3:50am my lil amelie grace was born and rushed strait to NICU weighing 3lb 5oz and she stayed there for 3 weeks. she had a feeding tube but could breathe pretty well on her own

she had/still has bad reflux and apnoea

luv braiana x

 

We now have our own area for our preemies, check out the premature babies sectionin the new parents area!