I'm in shock - a friend has given birth at 24 weeks
I got the news last night. A friend of mine gave birth on Friday to a little boy. She was only 24 weeks along. He's alive but that's all I know. I do know that babies born after 26 weeks have a 85% chance of survival. It's so sad and I've been really upset. He's only 600 grams. It's so scary and I can't stop thinking about it.
She left work early on Friday with bad pains. She was probably in labour and didn't know it.
It's just so sad. She and her husband had troubles conceiving and took about 2 years with fertility treatments etc. That's what makes it worse because I know they wanted a baby so badly.
I hope everything will turn out okay. I know he's in good hands at the hospital but it's still scary.
Fi, this may not mean anything, but when I was in hospital with Will, there was a lady in there who's given birth to a 23 weeker and that baby was around the same in weight, but hun i tell you what these tiny little babies, fight , so tell your friend to hang in there, they fight like no tomorrow, by the way that baby girl, did survive?
Hospitals are amazing now with what they can do. My niece was born at 31 weeks, and is now a happy and healthy 18 month old. You would never tell she was prem, and has no asthma or anything so far. Touch wood!
I hope your friend copes OK - its such a tough road, with days and days spent at hospital. Help out wherever you can - do their washing, cook them some easy meals for the freezer, go and visit when you can. All of these things make a real difference for them.
The last thing they want to worry about when they are at home is housework and the dishes!
I've got my fingers crossed for your friends little boy, don't underestimate how big a fighter premmies are. I had a baby boy born at 32wks weighing 1738gms (admittedly a fair bit bigger than your friends little one) but while we were in the hospital there were some tiny babies there & you get amazed by what they can achieve.
Our son is now 3yrs old & you would never in a million years know that he was a premmie.
I would like to make you aware that being so early he will be at risk of some developmental problems, but then again they may not affect him at all. Just something to think about coz your friend may need loads of support over the coming months as it is a pretty long road to getting him home & they may have to deal with some setbacks.
I've got everything crossed for your friends & I hope you will continue to let us know how they get on.
His skin has toughened up which means that he is looking a lot better and he is less prone to getting marks on his body which let infection in.
He is now taking 6ml of milk per 2 hours - this means that his stomach is working.
He has done his first and several subsequent poos - this means that his bowels are working.
He now has a central line in one arm and an IV in the other. These lines feed medicine into his body. Another line has been removed from his stomach. The number of lines in his body seems to go up and down each day.
On Sunday night, he weighed in at 722g. This is a good improvement. He lost weight in the first couple of days and would have gotten down to about 650g. As he is a bit more stable, they will be able to weigh him more often to tell if he is putting on weight.
His heart duct appears to be closed, but it might re-open again and require more drugs. Apparently the duct is normal in any baby but premature babies are not ready to close it.
He's had more scans. It is very likely that he will need a blood transfusion soon as his bone marrow is too immature to produce enough blood.
Infection is the key risk at this time. So far, he has been very lucky not to pick up any infections.
Sounds like your friends little boy is making good progress at this stage, here's hoping he continues to be a little fighter & that all goes well for them all.
Fee thanx for keeping us updated & would be great if you could continue to do so from time to time.
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I'm in shock - a friend has given birth at 24 weeks
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