hi ladies, im currently 35 weeks and my waters broke this morning, labour failed to establish and theyre going to induce me next week provided i dont go before hand.
just wanted to ask wat to expect from the special care nursery?
how long were ur bubba's in there for?
how did u cope going home without them?
how did u cope once they were home?
i've been told bubs will go straight to the SCN so im worried about not bonding with her.
all advice and tips very much appreciated!!
Oh wow... some of these bubs are just in too much of a hurry aren't they
Kayla was born at 34 weeks, and was in NICU at the public hospital for about a week, and then we moved over to private where I boarded in and stayed with her for another 2 weeks. So I didn't go home without her. I did pop home a couple of times to sort out my boys haha.. and to make sure we were ready to bring her home.. being prem things weren't exactly ready!
Umm.. what to expect in SCN.. it really depends on the care bub needs. Kayla was having apnea episodes so had to be monitored, and was being treated with caffeine. This is the reason we were in so long coz the dr's were taking forever to let her off the caffeine and then they like them to stay for a bit after stopping treatment. Otherwise it was making sure she could feed well. Kayla was actually very good at the breast from the word go, but lost a lot weight with the effort, so they put her on alternate tube feeds & suck feeds so she could rest and just concentrate on growing, which is what she'd be doing if she wasn't born yet!
I think jaundice is quite common for prems too, so it's possible bub might spend time under the lights.
The thing I didn't like about the whole thing was the scheduled and measured feeds. I refused to let them give any formula and I sat at that pump and got my milk in (also had a bit of help from my toddler to get the milk in ) but I had a great nurse in the SCN who was pushing for demand feeds with the paed. It was her that helped get her off the caffeine too, she was quite bossy with the paed LOL.
Coping once we were home.. nothing unusual really.. I didn't have any concerns about her apnea any more and refused to get caught up in the whole baby monitor sensor pad thing.. she was sleeping with me anyway. It was a long time until she smiled tho.. so I had a newborn for such a long time! Took a while for her to wake up and interact. She smiled at corrected 6 weeks, so she was actually 12 weeks old. But otherwise, there was nothing different to bringing home a term baby.
Hope some of that helps.. and I hope your bub stays put for a bit longer. If not, I'm sure things will be fine.. some bubs born at 35 weeks are only in SCN for about a week (or even less). So I hope all goes well for you both Enjoy meeting your bub!
thanks girls, really appreciate it,
its so overwhelmng when its completely unexpected(well i guess its overwhelming even when its not)
ive never been so scared in my life. i know she's going to be fine, but i cant help but worry, especially when i have alittle girl at home who needs her mumma (not to mention a man at home who is going to struggle doing things for himself this week!) and all im doing is laying around in a bed!
My DS coped ok while I was with Kayla. DH gained some appreciation for what my days were like looking after DS, doing washing, keeping on top of the kitchen etc hahaha. We made use of video calling and of course they visited most of the day anyway, so DS & DH coped quite well without me. There was a few rough nights where he wanted me I think, but they got through it.
Try not to worry too much, it's a pretty safe gestation to be having bubs from what I understand (completely uneducated opinion of course haha). It's more a waiting game than anything.. for them to mature a bit to be able to feed well and for things to stabilise. Kayla's apnea was just an immaturity thing and she just needed monitoring, and they keep an eye on blood sugar levels and jaundice. There would obviously be more to it than that but that was my observation from hanging around an SCN for 3 weeks!
The longer your bub stays put the better tho, so I hope bub is still nice & comfy in there! My DS was born at 37 weeks and was considered term, and was fine, just a bit of jaundice.
The main issue you are going to find is that it's around that point that they develop the suck reflex. You may spend some time having tube feeds waiting for bub to get strong enough to be on all suck feeds - you won't be allowed to go home until bub is able to cope with 100% suck feeds and is gaining weight. For both myself and a friend who had a baby born at 36 weeks, the stay was around 10 days. However, both of us came home bottle feeding. My friend was only expressing until her son got big enough to be able to attach properly (around 6 weeks) while I had no milk and had to formula feed. I'm told they tend to come home earlier if you bottle feed, but if I was to do it again (and had milk) I would stay that bit longer to get breast feeding going well if necessary.
The only other real issue we had was low blood sugars - Sam had to have a lot of heal ***** tests checking that they were going ok. With low blood sugar they can't maintain body temperature and don't have the energy to suck. We had no breathing issues, apart from one incident with a NG tube that was too short. It allowed milk to dribble back up and it came out Sam's nose. With one nostril blocked by the NG tube, the other nostril blocked by regurgitated milk, he just simply decided to stop breathing. We spent a few days on monitors but once the tube was changed he was fine.
From talking to friends, the SCN experience can vary greatly depending on whether you are going public or private. I was in a private hospital, had excellent food and remained a patient for the entire 10 days that Sam was in. Another premie mum (35 weeks) was in a public hospital and was boarding (couldn't drive after a c-section) and pretty much had to provide her own food. Both of us had formula pushed, both of us had trouble with each lactation consultant telling us different things.
Sam's upset, so I have to go, happy to answer any questions you may have.
Yeah, there is a push for formula feeds/comps. They are supposed to get your signed consent so remind them of that! I refused to sign but there was still pressure from them. Always ask for alternatives, express express express and save any colostrum you can get.. this will help stabilise sugar levels and is better for bub's tum. Insist on any suck feeds being from the breast too... not from a bottle. I didn't allow any bottle feeds either (I was a tough customer )
Perhaps while you're on bedrest, jump on the phone and get to know a local ABA counsellor that can assist you with feeding/expressing issues. There is a lot of conflicting feeding advice in hospital, a lot of which needs to be ignored!! (well.. I ignored a lot of it anyway hehe)
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mums of premmies, i need help!
) but I had a great nurse in the SCN who was pushing for demand feeds with the paed. It was her that helped get her off the caffeine too, she was quite bossy with the paed LOL.
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