Premmie Mums #8

[*Beema*]

Congrats TK on Caitlin getting past her birth weight!!

Great gains for both boys Sal!!

TK using the corrected age depends on who you speak to! Some say 1 year (our CYHN said she was only correcting weight until 1 year of age), others 2 years, depending on the "prematurity" we were told that by 2 years they should be "caught up". Our paediatric physio still use corrected age. So you get to celebrate their "0" birthday, or corrected birthday too!

Nic and Sal for the boys testing, hope you get the answers you are looking for and the support you need.

This week DD was diagnosed with Small Airways Disease, which is why she has had recurrent bouts of croup and brochiolitis (3 and 2), we were on a vetolin trial to see if that made a difference, which ended up being negligable, we now have an action plan for treated. At the onset of symtoms of either we are to administer the first of three doses of steroids over a 36 hour period, if at any time her breathing becomes significantly lobours, drawing in at the ribs, heavy wheezing and the steroids are not having an effect, we are to take her straight to the Dr's or Hosy for 02 treatment. Finally after months of respiratory infections we have an answer and treatment and we can go forward, she will be retested for asthma in a few months time, and she should grow out of the SAD by the time she is 6 years old.

Her physio session went well this week, the physio was really happy with her developments over the past couple of weeks, we had another student sitting in this week, you should have seen the look on her face when Nakita showed off her flexibilty, full side splits them going flat on her tummy, then sliding one leg forward and the other back into the "other" splits position. She did her first consecutive roll at home the night before, back, to front to back on the bed, which was very exciting, we are trying to get her to roll on the matt (with a thick blanket on it) but she isn't keen, so we are working more on the bed as it is more giving and she is more inclined to roll more, so working on the movement rather than the location at the moment.

Next session is Tuesday, we have a new student for the next four weeks, hopefully they are just as nice as the one's we have had

Have a good weekend!
Take care
xxoo

[Early Kids]

Beema, I'm glad you guys are able to move forward now. Hopefully Miss N will not get as sick anymore.

TK, Brendan is 2y6m and is still being corrected as he has significant delays. Tristan is not being corrected at all... so far he is 'advanced' gosh it's wierd saying that! If he should become delayed then we'll remind people he was early

Nic, keep me updated with how Nixon goes! We have our speech and OT appt on Tuesday.

[tiffanny]

TK I never used the whole corrected age thing. Don't know why, (actually there was and is a reason but it won't sit well with others so won't say) but in a nutshell I just didn't think it was necessary for everyone I met to explain.

Sally and Nic, I hope everything goes well for you both and you get some answers.

Us- we have had a big leap in our toilet training with Feeb's wowing me with a big stinky poo and then topped it off with telling me when she needed to do another one and she stripped off and hopped on her potty again with the same outcome as before. YAY for us. I've been waiting for the warmer weather to start but never imagined she would take to it this quickly. Can't wait to tell her teacher at D/C.

[Early Kids]

Tiffany thats awesome about the toilet training! Brendan is no where near it yet.

With corrected age I only used it as far as development went, and only when seeing specialists ect. As for everyone else I just told them his real age.

[*Beema*]

TK I never used the whole corrected age thing. Don't know why, (actually there was and is a reason but it won't sit well with others so won't say) but in a nutshell I just didn't think it was necessary for everyone I met to explain.

You have made me curious as to why

I got a lot of comments about DD's size, especially when she was not even near the bottom of the charts and 3 months old, so I would either just say her corrcted age, although for a while that didn't stop the comments so I just made up and arbitory age, smiled, nodded and walked away if they commented

[Bee83]

Hi Ladies

Well my little boy Jacob was born a month early at 36 +2 and he was 2.8kg, we were very lucky as we were told he would more than likely go to NICU being early and small. The paedatrician said he was tiny but perfect and monitored his blood sugar slowly, but we were home in 5 days.He is now 4.5 months old and on 10th percentile for weight but feeding has always been a huge issue for us. I never got milk so Jacob went straight to bottle feeding which he did well at in Hospital but was a whole new story at home. He still only has about 100-120mL at a time and wakes every 3 hours during the night. I find it very frustrating as he wasnt that "premmie" so to speak and has been slower to reach milestones (ie still hasnt rolled).

He has also been plagued with sickness this winter resulting in no weight gain for a month. I spoke to a doctor at work who suggested i thickened his feeds and he gained nearly 900g in a fortnight but he has been sick again and stops feeding.

Any advice would be greatly accepted!

Love Bee & Jacob

[butterfly_warrior]

I feel a little bit odd finally joining this thread now that Sam is nine months old. He was born at 36 weeks and even though we spent 10 days in the SCN and I'm still traumatised by watching my son have NG tubes inserted, I never really felt that he was all that premmie, and well... Just didn't find it until Sam was older and bigger and didn't look like he was born prematurely at all.

But I saw Bee's post and I just had to respond...

Bee, Sam went straight to the bottle in hospital as well as my milk never came in either. Hours upon hours on the torture device they call a breast pump, all for nothing. Anyway, Sam's grown well (gone from 3rd percentile to 97th for weight), but he's still been somewhat slow in reaching his milestones. Don't worry! Sam didn't even attempt to roll until he was well over 4 months old. He was probably closer to 6 months old before he finally figured it out. Then he rolled both ways for about a week and then stopped completely. It's only now at 9 months old that he's started rolling regularly and is using it to get places. His fine motor skills are impressive, but his gross motor skills have been particularly sucky up until this point. Being sick certainly won't have helped, but try not to worry too much about meeting physical milestones and concentrate more on his feeding issues. I hope you get them sorted... I remember how stressed we were when Sam got sick and wouldn't take his bottles. He dropped a lot of weight when that happened, but as soon as he was well again his growth took off again.

BW

[tk1999]

Hi,

Bee, welcome! I am not much help to you as DD is 6 weeks old this Sunday so we haven't been through many milestones thus far. BW gave you some great advice though. Hope all goes well for your DS.

BW, hope the odd feeling is gone for you now. Glad to have you here! Sam is doing so well. Congratulations to you both.

Well... tomorrow is DD's EDD... my oh my how those time has flown from her birth date to now! I have been processing a lot of mixed emotions but overall I am ok with everything - it is just surreal watching my belly buddies go through the end stages of their pg, their labours starting and their bundles arriving!