Premmie Mums #8

Aww Thanks!! Isolette is also known as a humidi-crib :) It's great that Caitlin is in an open cot, thats at least one hurdle out the way! She sounds like a true little champion :D Have the dr's given any idea as to how long she may be in for? I asked with Tristan (34+3) and was told roughly 10-14 days, depending on him. Ended up being 6 in SCN and 2 on the ward with me :D Mostly they tell you until their due date though.

Well Brendan has gotten worse, I'm watching him like a hawk now, I hink he may have a flu :( He's not vomiting and is breathing fine... but other than that has everything else.. temp, cough, sleepy, whingy/sooky, not as active, off his food and drink, even has the runs :( Got some hydralite icypoles, going to try those when he wakes.

I was initially told she would be in till at least 36 weeks (so 10-14 days or so) but have just heard tonight that Caitlin may be moved to Campbelltown Hospital (we are currently at Liverpool) - this is a great step because it means she has come leaps and bounds with her being transferred out to Campbelltown (Level 3 nursery whereas Liverpool is a Level 5)... just waiting to see if I can either be discharged home or transferred over to Campbelltown with her... if I can't go home or go to Campbelltown then Caitlin will stay at Liverpool but not because she needs the Level 5 nursery!! So so so excited... I am hoping that my liver function tests are favourable and just need one more good blood sugar level for me - fingers crossed!!

Sorry to hear Brendan has not improved - hope the hydralite does it jobs and keeps him hydrated so he can get through this.

firstly congratulations on the arrival of baby Caitlin!Im Nic, mum to 2 boys. Nixon my first was born at 33+3 weeks in April 2006 and is going on 3 1/2yrs now. He was in hospital 4 wks so came home at 37 +2 weeks
thats fantastic you are most likely to get transfered, good sign of how well she is doing! How far from campelltown are you? My parents live @ Harrington Park so our that way, Im in the shire, but if down the track you'd like to have a chat/coffee etc let me know. The premmie journey is such and up and down one and you can feel quiet alone if you dont know anyone who has been through what you may be going through

Congratulations TK on the safe arrival of Caitlin

It sounds like she is doing fabulously!!

DD was born at 33+4 weighing 2350grams, and we managed a short SCN 5 days at WCH then we transferred to our Privae hossy and they roomed her with me as she was the only SC bub and we had our own MW for each shift :) We took her home at 35 weeks 1 day.

We were told at the WCH that we wouldn't be taking her home for 4-6 weeks! But thanks to her Paed (head of NICU) he organised the transfer of her to another Paed who was based at our Priv Hosy and was a great friend :)

She had a few problems, extremely low BLS, she was unable to maintain her temp for about 1 week, was in and out of humidi-crib, and heaters and required phototherapy for a couple of days. Feeding took quite a while to establish, and I completely understand the expressing!! Just retired my pump a couple of weeks ago!!

:comfort: for the incident with the nurses too, I had a shocker one night made me sooo angry and upset, she fed and did DD's OB's 1/2 hour early as she wanted to leave early, so I missed out, and DD missed out on EBM that feed as I had just got enough to cover the feed.. She was very nasty when it came to BF'ing too, I dreaded walking in and seeing her on shift!

But had a reallly really lovely girl on a couple of nights who would wait for the last minute for me to come down at 3am with my milk :) I was one of the few who came down for that feed :) Also had another how snuk me an extra cuddle too ;)

If you have any questions let me know :)

Take care of yourself too!!
xxoo

oh i meant to add also one thing i remember was the doctors etc not wanting to put a time line on how long nixon may be in hsopital for or when he could come home. I dont think they like to create hope too early on because as most prem parents learn things can go very up and down. But the first indication we were given was they thought we should ahve him hom by his due date (so expect a 6-7wk hospital stay)

i guess if you think she may be home by her due date anything sooner will be a big bonus!

I'm so glad she is doing so well! I hope you guys can get the transfer :D
I passed on a website to Jo, for a doll which is made to bubs stats. They are so awesome, I just organised one for Tristan too!

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oh i meant to add also one thing i remember was the doctors etc not wanting to put a time line on how long nixon may be in hsopital for or when he could come home. I dont think they like to create hope too early on because as most prem parents learn things can go very up and down. But the first indication we were given was they thought we should ahve him hom by his due date (so expect a 6-7wk hospital stay)

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I totally agree Nic. We asked when Phoebe was transferred back to Toowoomba base and our oh so wonderful paed Dr Diplock told us that when she was ready to come home she would let him know and then he would let us know. He was a real character and made our stay so smooth.

Tk,
That's great news about being transferred. It's one more step in the right direction-HOME :dance:
Hunidicrib/isolette is an enclosed temp controlled structure. No clothes just a nappie. Open cot= clothes and wraps.

:dance: :dance:

We are home on gate release... sorry I haven't been around much - you guys know the drill... I am either at hossie or in my car having a nap!

I spent Thurs & Fri night rooming in with Caitlin at hossie and we are now on full suck feeds... she lost 20grams in that 48hour period so we weren't able to be discharged completely but they were able to give us a gate release... I have to take her back on Monday for a weigh in and if a gain then we get completely discharged and if a loss or no gain then we will be admitted again :doh:

Now that she is home I have stopped 4 hourly feeds and am feeding either on demand (ie if she is awake and looking for some food) or every 3 hours - she is pretty good and I can get her attached even when she is asleep so no need to wake her!! Need to fatten the girl up for Monday!

Hope you are all well - thank you all for your stories - they got me through many a teary moment at the hossie!

Will be back later with personals

YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPEEEEEEEEEEEE

]Welcome home little Caitlin. Even if it is short lived you are still there for the moment.

WTG TK!!!

Hopefully you have a nice big gain for tomorrow :) :crossfingers:

Sounds like youa re doing all the right things for fattening up your little girl:)

DD lost 40grams the day we came home (bringing her down to 2170grams, her lowest weight, a week later she had lost another 10grams, they lets us go another week and she put on 200+grams!!!

Take Care and look forward to your news tomorrow!! :dance:

WAHOOO!! Thats fantastic news :D
I'm so glad you guys are home now :D

I have to get both my boys weighed this friday. If Brendan hasnt gained any weight we have to look at a plan for him... which will probably involve going onto PediaSure formula. Hopefully he gains and we dont have to worry about it though.

Drum roll please...

Caitlin put on 70 grams whilst on gate leave!! So we are now completely discharged!!! It is such a nice feeling!!

Caitlin spent a total of 13 days at the hospital and 2 days on gate leave... first 4 days were at Liverpool and 9 days at Campbelltown. Am in the process of writing her story down now

Sally - fingers crossed Brendan has a gain :hug:

:cheer: Woo Hoo!!! WTG Caitlin!!! :cheer:

And big Congrats to you TK as well!! :dance:

Have a lovely babymoon!!!

Thats excellent TK!! I'm so happy for you :D
Thanks for the wishes... Will see how he goes on Friday :)

Thank you ladies - it was such a nice feeling to hear the words "yay for weight gain" when the nurse weighed her (I was too scared to look at the scales)

Our ECHN is coming out for the first home visit this Thursday

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"yay for weight gain" when the nurse weighed her (I was too scared to look at the scales)

Our ECHN is coming out for the first home visit this Thursday

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Love those words :)

Good luck for Thursday too, took DD 23 days to get back to her birth weight, so another slow starter :D
xxoo

yay - Caitlin is home where she is supposed to be!

I remember when DD came home she was 1770 grams and then lost 20 grams, I was afraid we'd end up in the hossy again, thank god we didn't!

Hello ladies - I am so thankful for your experiences... whilst it is not nice that you had to go through this... I find myself drawing strength from you all as you have walked this path before me!

DD put on more weight today at the ECHN checkup... she is back to birth weight... infact she is 5grams over birthweight at 18 days old!

I am so happy!

Sally - thinking of you and Brendan for tomorrow's weigh in

Awesome news to be back to birthweight!! WooHoo!!

Thanks for your thoughts :)

We will be getting Brendan tested for PDD, which is on the Autism spectrum. I hope that he doesn't have that, but at the same time it will be nice to finally have our answer and to move forwardwith some proper assistance to help him. Will find out more on Tuesday when we see the speech and ot.

Hope everyone else is well :)

Sally - will keep Brendan in my thoughts during the tests.

Ladies - can I ask a question re corrected age... ok so Caitlin's due date isn't for another 3 weeks... the nurses etc have explained this to me but I seemed to have got myself all confuddled!

From what I understand her actual age today is 19 days (my ticker doesn't change until after midday or so) and her corrected age is 36+6 weeks.... is that right? Her birthday was 09/08/09 and she was born at 34+1 weeks.

And when we get passed her EDD what does the corrected age become... so say she is actual 12 weeks does her corrected become 6 weeks???

You got it :) Tristan is 10 weeks today, but only 4+3 weeks corrected.

Well I have excellent news...Both boys got weighed and measured this morning...

Tristan is now 4.5kg (+750 grams in 4 weeks)
Brendan is now 11.75kg (+750 grams in 2 months) still needs to gain 330 grams to be what he weighed in May. He was weighed fully clothed.... refused to get undressed lol

Both boys sit exactly on the 10th percentile line for their actual ages (weight) :D

Tristan is now 56cms
Brendan is now 91.5 cms tall! (+4cms in 3 months)

I'm very pleased with both!

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Awesome news to be back to birthweight!! WooHoo!!

Thanks for your thoughts :)

We will be getting Brendan tested for PDD, which is on the Autism spectrum. I hope that he doesn't have that, but at the same time it will be nice to finally have our answer and to move forwardwith some proper assistance to help him. Will find out more on Tuesday when we see the speech and ot.

Hope everyone else is well :)

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good luck Sal.

we are going through the same thing at the moment. Nixon has seen a CHN, Paed, Speech pathologist all with concerns he could have a form of autism.
we are trying to get him into a diagnostic clinic for further review, it all takes so long

we started speech therapy this week

Wonderful news Sally!! Yay to the boys for brilliant weight gains! Thank you for your reassurement re the corrected age... it can get quite confusing!! Will I always have to 'correct' her age?

nickers - will keep you in my thoughts during Nixon's tests as well.

Congrats TK on Caitlin getting past her birth weight!! :cheer:

Great gains for both boys Sal!! :bluecheer: :bluecheer:

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!

:goodluck: 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. :lol: 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

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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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 ;)

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

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

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!

Welcome Bee and BW, and it is never too late to join BW :D

I am not the best to comment on Gross Motor Skill Milestones as DD has Hypermobility (too flexible), she can tickle behind both of her ears with her big toes at the same time and giggle :rofl: She has only just started rolling in the last few weeks :D

But every baby is different, and he is only 4 1/2 months give him some more time, he will get there in his own time.

DD was stuck on drinking only 100ml for a long time, the only way we got it up was by 5ml increments every few days, eventually she got up to about 180ml, but a majority of the time she was BF'ed and the toped up with F when she was losing weight :)

:cheer: Happy EDD to Caitlin for tomorrow!! :cheer:

Hope DD isn't getting ill again, she thew up all overherself in the car (TMI) this arvo, poor little poppet, she didn't even whimper just sat there :( Cleaned her up when we got hom 10min later as I had nothing with me :( After she had a long shower, gave her some dinner, which she proceeded to hide in the highchair when I was looking and before bed she drank 20ml of milk, and would only take tiny sips of water. Also had some diahorrea, hope what ever it is is very short lived!!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

ETA: oo cool that was my 1500th post!
xxoo

Hope Nakita is better soon Beema - fingers crossed whatever it is, it is short lived :hug:

Thanks Tk, I am hoping that the car upset her for some reason, although we have never had a problem before :doh:

Beema, I'm told there's a lot of gastro bugs running around at the moment. I hope that if that's what Nakita has that it's only a short-lived one.

Thank you for the welcome... I still feel a little odd posting in a premmie thread considering Sam at 9 months old has reached the 97th percentile for weight and is starting to cruise the furniture! He still can't pull himself up yet, but he's just not that motivated to move much (probably why he's grown so big!). He was never destined to be a small child (DH is 6'4"), but I never expected him to get so big so fast... four times his birthweight in just under 9 months!

BW

BW, a friend mentioned gastro on FB tonight as well :( I am hoping it was just the car trip, and a few speed bumps made it happen, even if she hasn't been car sick before, over plenty of speed bumps and lots of windy roads, but I am not going to go down that street just to test it out again! Ah well will see what tonight and the morning brings :)

I think it is fabulous to hear how well Sam is doing, sounds like he is going to have you on your toes, cruising already, that is fabulous! I love hearing about prems that are doing so well, they are all so very different, no two stories are the same.

I think too often we can focus on what our prems are not doing rather than what they are. A while ago I saw that this is what I was doing and it was getting me down, often comparing her to other babies (prem and not) to try to see when she should be reaching some milestones, then when she was about 10months I gave up and just though she will do it in her own time. We found out about the hypermobility when she was about 11 1/2 months.

Now I am often posting in the Woo Hoo room when we are reaching small gross motor milestones, cos I just get sooo excited that we are even getting close to achieving the big ones, that keeps me in a more positive frame of mind, more of a glass half full then half empty :)

Quick one from me... today is Caitlin's due date and I am a bit of a basket case... happy that she is here and safe and that the PE did not become a great risk to either of us but at the same time I am sad for the spontaneous labour I did not get to experience and grieving the end of pg I didnot experience.

I don't know - don't think I am making sense... it doesn't come out right.

Anyways - it is good to see so many premmies doing well and you are right Beema - focusing on what they are doing rather than what they are not is a great thing.

Welcome Bee and BW!!

TK, makes perfect sense to me :hug: Due dates have always been hard for me.

Beema, hope Nakita is better soon, poor wee girl.... it's been a rough year this year!

Brendan has had conjunctivitis for nearly 3 weeks... thankfully only he has it thus far. He also has a cold atm, and so do I :(

Tristan is 3 months old now :( Cant believe how fast time is flying by!

Take Care :)

How is everyone going?

We are ok here. Brendan is having a lot of trouble with his hearing, he cant hear very well out of one side and the other isnt much better. He also has glue ear and re-occuring ear infections. On top of that he keeps getting a cold, gastro and throat infections... anyway I have finally convinced a Dr to give us a referral to an ENT, so now we wait.

Tristan is going well, only a few concerns with him... once of his legs is quite bent and if you try to stand him his feet are crossed and the foot is on its side. So going to get that checked out by the CHN and see what she says. Hes also scratching at his excema so bad that it bleeds :( Another thing to ask about. Tristan will be 6 months on the 19th, it has gone so quick! I'm really hoping he has cracked the 6kg mark at his weigh on Friday. That would be really nice :)

Take Care everyone!

The boys sound (read) like they are both doing well Sally... you should be very proud of yourself! Even though Brendan has a few ENT issues - you are getting them sorted!

Have you seen the ECHN about Tristan as yet? How did it go?

Hello to everyone else

DD is doing well - she has just broken 6kg and is in some 00 clothes now. It is hard to believe she is 4months old. Her umblicial hernia has sorted itself out and is no longer an issue (not that it really was an issue for me but it was for many of our family - namely PiL!). We are doing well and hope everyone else is as well

xox