Delivering tomorrow at 36+1 - baby only expected to be 2kg
Wishing you all the best for today Chody! I'm excited and nervous for you all at once. I'm praying for a fantastic outcome and that bub doesn't have to spend any time in the SCU. If she does, I pray that it is a very quick stay xx I'm looking forward to seeing her birth announcement xxx
All the best hun
DD1 was born at 36+2 after PPROM but was 2.8kg and was in SCN 8hrs until her temperature stabilized. She was able to breastfeed from day one but did need to be woken to feed regularly as she was sleepy.
DD2 was born at 35+6 again after PPROM and was 3.12kg. She did not require SCN and we were home the next day with no issues breastfeeding.
Both my girls were bigger than your little one is expected to be but thought I would share. Their birth stories are in my sig, my bear and my mouse if you are wanting waste time while the induction gets underway (or maybe your in the midst of bringing your little one into the world as I type!)
I'm not sure if you're experienced with expressing, but if not, since there's a chance yoube doing quite a bit of it, here are my best tips: Make sure a nurse stays with you for the first session, and guides you through the fitting, and the turning it up, checking the time and turning it off after a set amount of time (and make sure you DO have a set amount of time, eg, 10 mins!) Too long on the pump on tender nipples can contribute to nipple damage/blisters/cracks etc. And get the fit of the tunnel part of the breast shield checked, also. Many hospitals only stock the medium, and all women are different. If the nurses don't know or seem unsure, get the LC to check. If she doesn't know, look on the Medela website at their guide (which helps a bit, but it's not actually brilliant). I needed a L on one side and an XL on the other, but it took me weeks and weeks of ulcerated nipples and agonising feeding and expressing to find that out.
I just had a re read of this thread. All the advice is wonderful and now that I'm experiencing it, I 'get' it a lot more.
DD2 is currently in the nursery in a humidity-crib. She is perfectly healthy apart from her weight (ended up only being 1.84kg). At the moment I'm barely allowed to hold her as everytime we get her out she chucks up her feed. The midwives are hoping its just due to all the mucus and that will stop shortly. I'm just hoping she doesn't end up with really bad reflux like her big sis!
At the moment I'm really struggling with not being able to hold her whenever I want. I know it's best for her, but after having a full-term bubs in my room, being able to cuddle all day long its such a shock. I know I shouldn't complain, many of you have had it far worse, but I'm feeling a little sorry for myself at the moment. Poor midwives sometime just need to look at me and I'm in tears lol. It's also hard trying to explain this to my eager visitors who just want to hold her too....
I'm currently trying to express about every 3 hours. I only did 3.5 hourly last night as I was so exhausted and emotional from very little sleep the past two nights that I needed to try to get some bigger chunks. I actually had a couple of midwives tell me to forget expressing overnight and just try to sleep and start again this morning but I just couldn't do that. At least by doing it I feel like I'm being a 'Mum' and doing something for my baby (does that make sense or do I just sound crazy?). Since its all just colostrum I'm only getting 3-5ml at a time, but the midwives seem to be saying that's more than average (although maybe they just don't want me to cry again lol). I'm hoping my milk comes in today.
Anyway thanks if you read all this. Sorry if it sounds wingey (like I said, I know things in my case would be a lot better than some of you).
Delivering tomorrow at 36+1 - baby only expected to be 2kg
Well done Chody sounds like you're entitled to feel the way you do. I can't comprehend how that must feel, not being able to hold her. Hopefully she is out of the humidicrib soon for cuddles!
Sounds like expressing is going well too! Small amounts of colostrum was what I got too, the nurses told me that bubs tummy would only hold 5ml or so. Pumping 3 hourly is hard work, especially at night... I had to feed Ava, then pump and feed her what I had pumped, it is time consuming and it must be tough doing it when you can't hold bub or even have a snuggle with her to make waking up a bit nicer
I hope this all passes quickly for you and that you can have as many snuggles as you like soon
Delivering tomorrow at 36+1 - baby only expected to be 2kg
Chody. You don't sound crazy at all. That's what I used to say when DD was in the nursery "If all I can do for her is express, then that's what I'll do!".
Tears are very normal for your situation. Especially days 3-5 when those baby blues sneak up on you. I cried literally every day for the 4 weeks DD was in the nursery.
Hope your DD continues to grow stronger with each day and you can hold her soon.
Delivering tomorrow at 36+1 - baby only expected to be 2kg
No you are not crazy! It's only natural that you want to be able to feed your baby, every drop helps. See if the midwives will let you help do the charts recording feeds and temps etc. I found it all very daunting in the beginning no one would really talk to you or show you the ropes. All three of mine were nursery bubs so by the end I would just take over whenever I was there and would talk to the other mums if they were looking lost. I hope you get those cuddles soon, with dd1 we eventually worked out that holding her upright would stop the chucking so I would hold her as long as we could get away with which depended on the midwife but generally she had to be back in her crib within an hour of her feed starting.
Thanks for the support girls! You don't know how much it means to know I'm 'normal' in this situation.
I just got to have hold one of two today . She didn't vomit whilst I was holding her for once (although I was very careful to hold her as still as possible - think my arm is still numb lol). Got to hold her for half an hour . Hopefully she doesn't vomit now that she's been put back. It's all about celebrating mini victories isn't it?? When DH gets here this afternoon we can get her out again and are allowed to give her a small sponge down - first since birth - so that's exciting .
Delivering tomorrow at 36+1 - baby only expected to be 2kg
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