My Premature baby

[Jessie]

Hi Im Jessie 19

Im new to Belly belly.

My son Charlie is 6 weeks old and was born at 24w + 4d weighing 700grams.

Im just on this forum to see if there are any other mums with a baby as early as mine?

[*TripleJ*]

hi and welcome to BB i didnt ave a prem baby but i thought i would say hi others should be in soon xoxox

[Inanna]

Hi Jessie, Welcome to BB & congratulations on the birth of your son...

My daughter Imogen was born at 27+5 weeks weighing 815grams. So a little bigger than your son & with an extra months gestation. Which does make a big difference when we are talking micro prems... Imogen had a rough time with her lungs and still does. She was discharged about a fortnight after her due date. She was very slow to develop & is still very tiny for her age. She has the added issue of recently being diagnosed with a deletion of part of her 3rd chromosome. So he has issues ahead that have nothing to do with her prematurity. She is the height of a low centile 15 month old - so she is wee. But makes up for it in her feisty and beautiful nature.

She is the light of my life (along with my other 4 kids - but Immy's fight to stay with me is nothing short of courage in action)...

How are things going for you? How is he going now? I look forward to getting to know you.

[squidipa]

cant post what i want to say

[Inanna]

I just realised Jess that your baby is still in hospital. I am very sorry I missed that. How is he going? I am assuming he is still on cpap? How are his head scans going? His eyes?

This is an incredibly stressful time & if he is your first baby I think it would be even scarier. Noone can prepare you for the stress of a micro prem birth. I remember seeing the bigger babies in the nursery that really only stayed a day or two and they seemed so massive against all our little ones... I remember being so shocked at how small Immy was and how tiny those little fingers were.

Are you having kangaroo cuddles? Thinking of you and sending my love and support. Please let me know how you & Charlie are doing.

[squidipa]

its a very emotionally draining time my son spent 16 days in special care. It was very hard on us my thoughts are with you.

[Jessie]

Charlie was born in Canberra by surpise I was here on holidays and to send my furniture up to Townsville as I use to live here.

Charlie has had 6 blood transfusions sor far and today is his fourth attempt on CPAP as he has been ventilated for 6 weeks. He suffers from Chronic lung disease but nothing else major. There have been two infections one in his chest and one in his stomach which both have been treated and I hope are gone. When he has his stomach infection they stopped feeding him for a about 5 days and hes just started feeding again hes upto 6 mils every two hours and before his infection he was at 12 mils every two hours.

He was born at 700grams and went down to 580gram and now weight 1170grams....I am so proud of my boy.

Things are tough but Im coping very well with the support of my family up here unfortunately his dad is still up in qld and flys down to Canberra approx every two weeks.

I look forward to hearing about your premature baby stories.

xxxxxxxx

[Inanna]

He is doing well Chronic Lung Disease (CLD) is almost a given with babies as prem as yours (& mine). Immy has it too... She had a really tough first year with about 5 admissions back to hospital for infections. Immy had one infection whilst in hospital.

Are you expressing? Those times off ventilation and onto cpap are scary... So sending you understanding hugs.

I am glad you've found BB - you will find much support here my love.

[Footsteps]

jessie, i was born at 24 weeks and weighed 1lb14oz myself. welcome to bb and i hope your little one is doing well xx

[*Beema*]

He sounds like he is doing well Jessie, still a long way to go, but he has come through a very difficult period, and NICU is such a rollercoaster ride

Going to CPAP is a huge step, that is wonderful news, and it is awesome to hear he is getting your milk, that must have been a wonderful day when he got his first 1ml

For your milk are you taking any medication to help, expressing alone can be extremely difficult, it was a very long journey for me to exclusively BF DD, but in the end I was on a high dose of Motilium and it made all the difference, I met with a specialist GP/LC and she said that I could actually take a lot more than I was on and once we got going on the higher dose it made a huge difference.

You may need a bit more help until Charlie is big enough to help get the extra milk happening
Take care xxoo

[Early Kids]

Sounds like he is doing really well I hope he continues to do well.

[Jessie]

I did write a reply but it has to get reviewed or something first?

Charlie is doing really well at the moment hes been sucessfully on CPAP for two days after being ventilated for 6 weeks , his lungs just couldnt cope at all they were very underdeveloped more then usual hes now on steroids to help.

He now weighs 1170 and growing with help of 12mils everyone two hours of my milk...although I have had hard time expressing as my milk just wont come!!!!

[Jessie]

I am on donperidone so the same thing.

How many Mg were you taking?

[*Beema*]

I am on donperidone so the same thing.

How many Mg were you taking?

I was on 60-80mg a day, it made a huge difference

[Sally2]

Welcome Jessie! We also have a Charlie, so great choice in names
He was born at 28+6 at 1287gms so quite a boofer considering his gestation. Well done little man on getting onto CPAP, it's a HUGE milestone after so many weeks on the vent.
The roller coaster ride is tough, but at 6 weeks in, just keep remembering that he will come home, it doesnt matter if that's on oxygen etc. We have our own premmie mums group including two 24 weekers and a 26 weeker who went home on Oxygen. At over a year out of hospital, they are all doing brilliantly and all walking, talking etc...except for them being smaller than average, you wouldn't know they were micro premmies...
There is light at the end of the tunnel........ from us for the incredibly stressful situation you are in.....

[dreamingofalittleone]

Hi Jesse , my name is cazz our baby is in
Canberra nicu as well he was born last Tuesday , your bibs name rings a bell we have prob passed eachother in the hallway around caretime,

Our little boy was born at 26.4 weeks

it is def one of the hardest experiences ever !!

Say hello if you get a chance or perhaps we could exchange details , would be great to be able to get in
touch with others who r in the same situation !!

[Rosebud]

Welcome Cazz & congratulation on the arrival of your little one.

Jesse, I must have missed you previous posts. Glad to hear that Charlie is now on CPAP a big step for a little person.

Jesse & Cass, my little one was in the care of the wonderful TCH NICU staff. They are amazing and DH & I have our favourite nurses and Neonatologists. 13 mths down the track and we still pop in from time to time. Our last visit was on Angus' 1st Birthday (bright blue cupcake for afternoon tea). A bit off the track here but what I want to say is your children are in a place where the care is A1 not only for your children but for the whole family.

Sending you both hugs and strength and growing vibes to your little ones.
Take care xx