Premmie Mums #8

[Early Kids]

WTG Nakita!!

BR, good to see you in here too!

TK, I really feel it shouldnt be based on age, but more when bub is ready. If bub is ready at 6 months then so be it, if not then wait and keep trying, not forcing

[tk1999]

Sally - congratulations on your pg!

Welcome BR and Master S

WTG Beema & Nakita... that is excellent.

Sally - I am the same in that I don't think solids should be based on age alone, I will try @ 6mths (actual age) and if she isn't ready then I will continue to try and she will let me know when she is ready he he

[nickers]

Sally congratulations on your pregnancy!! wishing you a long and boring and FT one this time!
Nakita is alittle champion she is really coming along in leaps andbounds lately!

welcome BR- my son was born at 33+3 but a giant compared to your bub he was 2.296 and spent 4wks in hospital. it must have been very stressfull time for you on your own, do u have family here or are they all o/s?

[skybie]

hi girls, hope u dont mind me joining in!
bit of a back story,
Had PPROM at 35 weeks with DD2, she tried to come then, but i honestly believe the tablet they gave me to ease the contractions so i wouldnt have her in the ambulance stopped it.
was sent home from hospital 3 days later, 3 days after that DD2 was born at exactly 36 weeks.
She wieghed 3550gms and was 50cms long, so not the particularly small baby we were told to expect!!
DD2 was admitted to SCN for 24 hours because of her BSL but was roomed in with me the whole time.

I know she wasnt nearly as tiny or early as most of the babies in this thread, and is really a very well baby even now, we've had no feeding issues, and only a bout of thrush to mention, but i find myself struggling with her developmental side, it took us to almost 13 weeks to see a proper smile on her face, she still doesnt really coo all that much either, i know these things will come, my MCHN says its all because she was early.

its hard when i read my baby buddies thread and see the things they're up to, its even harder reading about the babies in belly buddies thread because izzy still isnt doing things that they're doing!
hoping to read along with u guys to put my mind at ease and have some ladies who really understand what its like

[rhyb]

Hi hope no one minds me poking in here.
Sienna, Bella and Ruby were born at 33+6 and are now 4 weeks old. Girls are all doing well and the only hospital intervention they had were NGT when they were first born.
Sienna is now 3.3kg (2.4kg born), Bella is 2.5kg (1.9kg born) and Ruby is 2.4kg (1.7kg born). Im very proud of them, theyre doing so well.
How is everyone??

[ladybird11]

Oh wow Rhyb - the girls are growing so nicely!!! You must be sooo happy, thats awesome progress!

Skybie - My DD was born at 31 wks, so I actually joined the baby buddies group of when she was actually due - so I could compare to those babies who are more or less in the same 'corrected' age bracket. But hey, don't leave us here (although I'm more of a lurker on this thread ).
I totally understand how you've got to wait a bit longer for all the milestones to happen, and then when ppl ask about her - having to explain the whole 'corrected age' thing to them, to kind of explain why she isn't sitting, smiling etc as yet .

BR - Wow, 9cm's in one month!!! Thats amazing isn't it!! It sounds like he is growing beautifully! Great thing about having a prem though is we get extra time for Newborn cuddles .

Sorry Beema - how early was Kita born? I'm a bit out of the loop . Awesome milestones to reach though! You must be soooo proud!

[*Beema*]

Sorry Beema - how early was Kita born? I'm a bit out of the loop . Awesome milestones to reach though! You must be soooo proud!

Kita was born at 33 weeks, there is a link to her birth story in my Sig, she was in a big hurry to meet us and there was no stopping her

Rhyb and your gorgeous three little girls, they are doing fabulously, you must be so proudm and how is big brother Aiden going with having three little sisters. How are you finding it, I hope you have a good support network

Skybie, I too joined the baby buddies thread of my Belly Buddies - due date, as I found I had very little in common with the Baby Buddies born at the same time as DD, and it was a bit depressing when they spoke of how big their bubba's were compared to Miss N, especially as she was a very slow gainer and even in my "corrected" Baby Buddies thread she was the smallest by quite a bit

If anyone else has written their birth stories post a link I would love to read them

[butterfly_warrior]

Skybie, Sam was also a 36 week prem - but much smaller than your little girl! We had to spend 10 days in SCN and I still feel like a bit of a fraud here - especially as he has grown so big so quickly! However, I do know what you mean about the developmental side of things - it's hard to hear about other babies doing things so early compared to yours - even though Sam wasn't all that delayed, it was there a bit and it has made me VERY paranoid!

One thing that has helped me a great deal - a friend of mine had a little boy born at 35 weeks who is about four months older than Sam. It's been good to see that Sam has done things around the same time as Timmy - so I know he's keeping up with other boys who have faced the same challenges.

My birth story is in the de-brief section - it's not something I can face talking about too much at all, even now at 12 months on.

BW

[ladybird11]

My birth story is actually in the birth announcement section .

Not sure how to link it - but it's titled 'Madeline Ruby - 2 months early'.

Or I can link it if someone can tell me how ?

Beema - doh! I missed that. I'll have a read of Miss N's arrival after I've dished breakfast out to the kids

[skybie]

thanks for such a warm welcome ladies!!
BW, im so sorry u cant talk about sam's birth just yet. i hope one day you get closure on it.
Izzy birth, although scary beacause of all the things they tld us could go wrong, and not dialating for 4 hours, was actually quite good, not my planned, perfect birth, but still good. Everything i wanted went out the window when we knew she was coming early, i didnt care how she came out or what condition i was in afterwards, i just wanted her to be born safe.

im not really sure how to post a link but i copied the top of the page thing, hopefully it works

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...les-story.html

[*Beema*]

I will go reading the stories tonight

Skybie, I know how you feel when at the time you just want them out safe and sound

No worries leesa

To do a link leesa, open the webpage you want to link to, copy the link, then go to your reply post, click on the little globe with a link below it, a little screen will pop up and press Control V, then ok, and alink will appear, part of it will be highlighted, that is where you can type the name of your link ie. Madeline Ruby - 2 months early. Then it is all done and when you have posted it should appear with a line underneath it

I did a search and found it so have popped a link in here for you

Madeline Ruby - 2 months early

Hugs BR I am sorry to hear that Sam's birth continues to traumatise you, have you had a chance to debrief with someone face to face? Maybe time will heal and you will be able to celebrate what was a very special event, even though it wasn't what you had hoped for. Big squishy *HUGS* And hun you are not a fraud at all being in here, Sam was born too early and it doesn't matter how prem your bub was, being the mother of a prem comes with it so many different emotions, and often the best people who can understand the emotions are other mum's of prems.

Must run for now
xxoo

[tk1999]

Welcome Skybie and to your DD2. I have done the same and have joined both the baby buddies from when she was born and from when she was due, I couldn't not share in my belly buddies babies growing... but DD is similar in that she isn't doing things that the bubs she was born around are doing and she is sometimes ahead or behind the babies due around her. I decided to not really pay attention to when she does things on a strict scale, I am still watching milestones but not in a huge panic if she hasn't 'achieved' something strictly to the MCHNs schedule. I agree - when I was told I had to be induced as my liver was failing I no longer 'cared' about a 'perfect birth' I just wanted my baby born safely. I did it without drugs because I felt guilty taking anything when it was my body that was failing us both and I realised a few weeks ago that a part of me felt like managing the labour pains was the only thing I could control.

Welcome Rhyb and Sienna, Bella and Ruby. You did a great job baking!! My DD was also 2.4kg born. You have every reason to be proud

Leesa - I agree, the corrected thing is starting to do my head in... I am not explaining it to everyone but I do expect my and DPs family to get it. Some do, some don't. The ECHNs and her Paed have been great but argh family sometimes... DPs family are famous for saying that I shouldn't correct her age because she chose her birthdate... um NO she didn't... I was induced because my liver was failing... if she needs that 6 weeks leeway then so be it... but now because she has discovered her hands and constantly has them in her mouth well yep that MUST mean she is teething... I know can be a sign but she hasn't had any other signs... she just found her hands and a place to put them LOL. Argh argh argh

Great thing about having a prem though is we get extra time for Newborn cuddles .

I totally agree!

BW - I remember seeing your BA when Sam was born but have not read your birth story. I will. I sometimes feel like a fraud when DD is bigger than some babies born FT before her but then in other ways she is a 'classic prem' as my fill-in ECHN said one week.

I have linked DDs birth story into my sig if anyone would like to read.

[Early Kids]

Welcome Rhy! Great to see you in here Your girls have done so well

RE- baby buddies, I've joined the group for actual age. With Brendan I joined both, but then the corrected one faded out. So actual ages here. But it doesnt bother me in the slightest that term babies are bigger and doing more than Tristan or Brendan. They have both come so far.

Tristan has 6 month needles on Thurs and then next week he has his weighin, so hoping to have cracked that 6kg mark this time (3rd month lucky eh?) He was 5660 grams a week before his 1/2 year birthday hehe.

Brendan is waiting on an appointment with the ENT, we are slowly trudging through ear infections lol. He lost nearly a kg before Christmas with gastro and now he is lactose intolerant from it. New Year and time to get back into the therapies (we took a break over Christmas at my request)

Hope everyone is well

*ETA* Birth story links
Brendans Journey
Tristans Journey
Theres better stories (more detailed) on my blog Parenting Premmies

[Early Kids]

Just thoguht I'd pop Tristans NICU/SCN Journey in here too. Tristan's Journey

[Sally2]

Gosh, we should really get onto Charlie's birth story as soon ( but not too soon ) we will have to write another one
Congratulations Rhyb on your beautiful girls, have been following your story on here as it's not often you see triplets!
We joined the baby buddies group for our due date, but found because we had been away from all the girls ( even though we'd been with them all the way through on belly buddies ) we just didn't have enough in common to join in the discussion. They all left such beautiful messages when Charlie was born, but we were so out of touch for the next three months that when their babies were due, I was sooooo jealous about their 'perfect' births, getting to take their babies home from hospital straight away etc I just couldnt discuss mundane, everyday baby things with people I thought didn't get what we had been through for the last 11 weeks.
It is such a different journey through the NICU/Special Care nursery to a 'regular' delivery. Hopefully, fingers toes and ears crossed, we get to experience that this time.

[Early Kids]

I hope so too Sally! I have everything crossed for you guys xxx

[*Beema*]

Thankyou all for sharing all of your Birth Stories, I hope you get to write yours soon Sally!!!

A couple I started reading and though... hmm this sounds familar and I realised that I had already read them

BW, I hope that one day you may be able to celebrate your story in the general section, give it time hun, birthing your child is the biggest rollercoaster ride, throw in having a prem and it just adds in a few more loop to loops we wouldn't have been expecting.

Have a lovely weekend all, we are staying inside or in the pool, with 43 all over the weekend here

[butterfly_warrior]

Thanks, Beema. I have found that in many ways, being able to celebrate Sam's first birthday the way I wanted has helped me heal. Not fully, but a little bit. When I take a step back and remind myself that there was three years of waiting and longing before Sam turned up... after IVF and all the miscarriages I spent my entire pregnancy terrified I would wake up and it would all be a dream or that someone would take it all away. And then, when he was born, they did take him away. I think I got to hold him for less than a minute before he and DH were whisked away and then it just felt like I'd been forgotten... As much as you know in your head that things had to happen that way because Sam was premmie, it still doesn't change the fact that it was upsetting and horrible.

I can only imagine how much worse it must be for mothers of babies born even earlier.

Anyway, nasty headache so I'm going to grab my medications and head to bed and hope to sleep it off.

BW