Premmie Mums #8

WTG Tristan!!

:hug: for Nixon & you, nickers... that will be a very full on day!

Hello to everyone else :hug:

I meant to come in yesterday and say :dance: happy half birthday to my DD... wow 6mths of BFing via various means - expressing for tube feeds, suck feeds... sucking at the breast whilst being fed via tube. It all feels like it was a lifetime ago but it also feels like it was yesterday - I cried yesterday when I thought about how far we have come - I think getting to 6 months has brought up a lot of emotions for me - surround DDs birth, those first few weeks, questioning why I had PE, GD and the gammat of other things that didn't go to 'plan' etc etc. I was recently diagnosed with PND and have commenced meds yesterday.

I have a long road ahead of me... did anyone else find that once the hectic premmie mums life had settled down a little bit (lets face it - no ones life settles down completely after a child whether prem or FT) that everything just came crashing down? That is how I felt/feel.

Sorry to be a downer :hug:

Anyway... 6 months old... that went super quick. We tried her on a bit of BLS last night (so DP could see it too) and I don't think she is ready - but we will continue to try every couple of days

Nic, good luck for today xxx

Beema, Thanks :D

TK :hugs: I totally understand, I come crashing down every single Feb, the 2 weeks leading up to the 10th when my waters broke and then I re-live every day in hospital until his birth... In the first year, I would crash more often, but after the first year it's just the important dates...

It's a hard day for me today.... 3 years ago our hourney toward NICU began, I was 28 weeks pregnant.

WOO WOO TRISTAN
Big crawling bubba! Great job Sal

:hug: Big hugs Sal :comfort:

Lots of love to you Sally... I can't imagine going through this each year... I hope we both get through this xox

i hope you dont mind me poking my head in here as i could do with all the premy advice that i can get for thoses that dont know we have just had our little one at 35wks+5 never had a premy before so this is so new to us me and dw

Welcome to the Squidipa family!! Congratulations on Chakotay's arrival - from your other thread (BA) it sounds as he is doing really well. Please let us know any questions you have and we will do our best to answer them.

thanks i do have a question how do you look after a premy bub when he/she is home might sound silly but this is so knew and i have no idea how to look after a premy bub

Just like any other bub really - some are discharged with medications, some have additional nurse visits, additional paediatrician visits but generally they are just a normal bub only smaller as bubs usually won't be allowed home until they are off all tubes etc and no longer require all the interventions that they have had during their hospital stay.

We were initially told DD would be in hospital for 6 weeks (so until her due date) but she was only in hospital for 15 days (even though they were the longest 15 days of my life). But once we got her home we didn't really treat her any differently (not that we have any other children to compare to though). We were a bit more cautious if people were sick - but I guess any parent would do that. I always made sure she was covered in the cooler weather (it was August so end of winter).

Congratulations Mr and mrs Squidipa :D

We were also told they would be in until term, Brendan spent 6 weeks Tristan just 8 days. Like TK said they usually don't let them home until they reach a certain weight (which differes between hospitals (ours was 2kg) full suck feeding and off the monitors ect. Tristan was an outpatient for about 4 days after discharge because of his bilirubin levels (jaundice). It really depends on the complications bub has, if they don't have Apnoeas or any other serious issues then they are pretty much like having any other new bub around, except you have to be a little more vigilant on hand washing and sickness ect.

All the best!!

Update on us...
Brendan is sick... again... he has a middle ear and ear canal infection and also a viral infection (his throat is red, tonsils enlarged and lymph nodes and glands in the neck all enlarged. really sick of the ear issues, wish the ENT would hurry up! Got a small list of things to ask the Paed when we have his 3yr corrected appointment in May. Sick of his bowel issues... Tristan's milk poops were thicker than Brendans! Sorry for the TMI :(

Can't believe he is nearly 3 :( It goes too quick!

Otherwise we are doing pretty good lol.

thanks that does help and put my mind at ease somewhat

Hey :)

Just thought I'd do an update!

Brendan has been doing a weekly speech group session (two weeks so far) and it's quite good, learning more about the things we are already doing :D

Had their health checks on Friday...
Brendan is still 12kg has dropped to just above the 3rd %ile. (been 12kg since May 09)
He has grown in height though... 95cms! Just under the 50th %ile :shock: (+3.5cm in 6 months)

The plan for now is to keep going how we are, and see what the paed says. We can't do anything else until he's seen the paed and ENT.

He's just gotten over another ear infection, which was based in the middle ear and the ear canal :( Also had some klind of viral thing too.

Tristan... is
L: 66.5cms (+0.5cm) 10th %ile.
HC: 43cms (+0.5cm) just under the 10th %ile
Good news is he had a gain... he's followed his line on the graph (which is still below the bottom of the graph lol) he is now 6560gm (+570gm)

He's been referred to physio and may need podiatry because his legs are worse. The left one has not gotten better and the right one, which never had a problem with is now inwards too... He is not bearing weight well either.
Tristan's breathing is a little concerning atm, you can hear him and feel him breathe... so keeping an eye on that!

Hope everyone else is well.

Hoping Tristan is on the mend now with his breathing and :hug: for the rest of the challenging things and
:cheer: for the positive!

:hug: Sal for the challenges you and the boys are facing but :dance: for the positives xox

Don't have time for a long post... But I'm starting to get worried about Sam's speech, or complete lack of. Is it normal to have no words and still just be babbling at 14 months old? Where do I look for information on what's normal and what's not? I just know that if there is a problem, the sooner we deal with it the better. He can say mum, dad, bub - but never uses them in context. I've read about much younger babies already saying "no" but Sam doesn't. I guess my gut feeling is that he's not going as he should in that area, and the main baby I'm comparing him to is also another prem of similar gestation to Sam, and another boy, so they should be doing things at similar times, yes?

Anyway, must get back to work... will try to catch up properly later.

BW

Thanks everyone :)

BW, Firstly, don't compare him, I know it's hard, but it is unfair to compare children (even if they are of similar gestations ect). Also try not to read into it much either, Sam might be excelling in other areas so therefore putting more effort into that.

By 18 months they want 50 'words' (they don't need to know the meaning of though) and some basic understanding. How is Sam's understanding? Thats the most important part, if he's got the undertsanding the speech will come. Also remember that our 'words' are usually different to theirs, for instance Brendan says 'dues' and thats his word for 'sore' or 'hurt' lol.

If you are concerned though speak to your CHN (they can refer you to the Speech Therapists if needed) I've found in my own experience that they won't focus on speech so much until after 18 months, unless there is another factor involved. For instance Brendan has being seeing ST's from 9-10 months old due to Tongue-Tie and the inability to eat properly.

If you like I can pass on some tips from our group sessions with Brendan's ST's. Send me a PM if your interested and I'll type out the phamplets, they may help in the meantime while you decide what you want to do or for the speech appointment ect.
Good Luck!

Sally
xx

Hi ladies, sorry it's been so long since I've been around. I'm sure you'll understand that things have been crazy! D is doing really well, and will likely be coming home home tomorrow. Thank goodness, I'm so over that place, and just want our little boy home with us. It's four weeks tomorrow since I was admitted, and while we were prepared to be in there longer than that, I'm so glad we're not. He has been a little superstar, doing all the right things. As the paed keeps saying, he doesn't know he's small :lol: no one told him. He's now 1900g, and looking like he has a tiny bit of fat on his face :D he's soooooo beautiful.

Strangely enough, I'm feeling very nervous about bringing him home though. I've been having those weird and awful dreams where I've gone out and forgotten my baby etc. Yuck. And I'm stressed about all the feeding stuff, although I know that patience is required, and time.

How did you all get past the horror of the hospital stay, and everything else? I feel like everyone, DH included, thinks that once he's home it's all over. I used to think that too, but my head is all over the place, and very confused. I'm feeling a bit upset about alot of things.

Janie, to be honest, I'm not sure you ever do get over the hospital stay. I've got another thread in here at the moment talking about how a friend of mine had her baby at a similar prematurity to Sam and it's all come flooding back and leaving me in a bit of a mess. I had nightmares last night remembering being called into the nursery at 4am and being told my baby had "turned a funny colour"... I'm hoping and praying that my friend doesn't have to deal with desaturations and all the rest - but I'm reliving the trauma as though it were yesterday.

I wish you all the best with building your supply.

BW

Janie, I'm so glad to hear that D might be home tomorrow! That's sooo awesome :D

With Brendan I didn't really want to bring him home, I was soo scared of the stopping breathing (Brendan had Apnoea) and I was worried I would sleep through and not hear him wake (ha-ha)I personally found the few few days at home was awesome, I breezed through them. It wasn't until about 3-4 days later that I realised what I had been missing out on and that's when it hit me hardest. I was so glad my mum was there. It was nice to be home though and being home was never harder than being in hospital. I was so sick of the place and just wanted to sleep in my own bed and have a face-to-face conversation with DP. When Brendan was born we were living about 7 hours drive from the NICU Hospital.

With Tristan his whole journey was so easy and I was not worried about taking him home at all. But I suppose after Brendan I knew that he would be ok being 34 weeks and I was spoilt with him being such a big baby for his gestation too.

Funnily enough, Brendan who had Apnoea I never had any issue with breathing... Tristan however has stopped breathing on me a few times.

Mini Update on Tristan..
He is now in Speech Therapy. ATM he is just included in the group sessions that Brendan is doing and is only being seen when we go for Brendan. He basically has another month to start babbling... I have to get him weighed this week and hopefully we have a nice weight gain, 7kg would be an awesome weight to crack ;)

Janie, so glad to hear that D is doing so well that you both may even be home now. A true Superstar!!

I was very nervous about bringing Angus home as like Sally's Brendan, he also had issues with Apnoea particularly when being tube fed. He was also on oxygen for 14 weeks and they wanted to send him home only 2 days after it was ceased. I refused and insisted that I would not walk out of the SCN until he had successfully been off oxygen for more than a week. The funny thing was when I finally got him home I felt lost, there was no more expressing or numerous trips to the hospital each day and I really missed the daily interaction with all the staff, after 15 weeks I felt like part of the family. I was now confined to the 4 walls of my house and didn't venture outside much. Not like the homecoming after the birth of my other 2 children but I was very thankful that I finally had him home. I never thought that I would ever see the day.

I don't know if you ever get over it...I still voice my anger at women who complain when they are 37 week pregnant and just want it over with. To lose 15 weeks of pregnancy has scarred me for life. I missed the best 15 weeks of pregnancy feeling your baby kicking in side of you, watching your belly grow it's just amazing but so are these tiny little prems that come into the world!

At time of discharge, I promised the staff that whenever I was in the building that we would come and visit. Every time I run into a staff member I breakdown in tears. I can't even read his discharge summary without falling in a heap (just like now). I don't know if it's everything that happened or that I am so grateful that he is here with us today. Maybe it's the combination of both.

Today Angus had an appointment with the NICU follow-up clinic. The Paed that was assessing him was the one that first spoke to us when I was admitted at 24 weeks. He had the difficult job of telling us what was to be expected as well as give us the option to resuscitate and medically assist at birth or the unthinkable to let him pass. Well, there was no way I was giving up on this tiny life and that's what we told him that very emotional day. Today the smiles on these Paeds faces was amazing, they were so proud of my little man and how far he has come and hearing the words from their mouths that they have no concerns at all once again bought me to tears.

WooHoo Angus!! :dance:

Just got home from speech group and CHN. Tristan has cracked 7kg! He is now 7040 grams at 9 months old, up from 6560 grams at 8 months. :dance: He is now 67.5cms tall too.

Ran into Brendan's OT and she is going to organise a group meeting for Brendan with OT and Speech (she's leaving :( ) because Brendan's behaviour is really starting to get to me now...

WTG Tristan!

Hope the meeting goes well for Brendan :hug:

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WTG Tristan!

Hope the meeting goes well for Brendan :hug:

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Thanks hun :D

Just an update on my little bub, not that i ever really did an intro.

Little K is 81/2 months, so 6 months corrected. We saw the Paed on Tuesday for our 3 monthly review (6 weeks late due to rescheduling). I had been getting anxious for no reason as DD has been great. They are so happy with little K that we do not have to see them for another 6 months. YAY. I no longer have to give her pentavite and iron daily as she has started solids .

Sally - (and any other BLW'ers) The paed had no problem with me doing Baby led. At least they did not say anything when i told them. I was nervous about that. But as long as she is putting on weight they cannot say anything really.

Quick background as i have never introduced myself in this thread but read it lots

DD was born via emergency c-section at 29 plus 6 weeks due to placental abruption. Luckily I was in hospital for a few days to monitior some bleeding. It scares me to think what would have happened if I had been home. I had not been prepared for a possible prem baby. I thought I was going home in 2 days to wait for a scan at 34 weeks. She spent 2 weeks in NICU (9 days on CPAP) and 41/2 in special care and always had laboured breathing due to a PDA. The medicine did not work to close it. DD was slow to put on weight at first, had laboured breathing and very sleepy. At 3 months she had the heart operation to fix it and her weight gain skyrocketed, and so did her development. At 8 1/2 months she is sitting on her own. loves assisted standing and babbles a lot. From 1707g she now weighs 7.2kg

Although she has always been a fighter and we have encountered few set backs or hurdles it is hard to ignore the anxiety of premmie parenthood. The heart operation was horrible but seeing how many kids were worse off in the ward put our issue into perspective. But it still hurt. At birth the hospital give you that sheet of paper saying what could happen now and in future for babies at your gestation and the stats. I read too much on the internet about possible problems for premmie babies etc. So now I am telling myself just relax and let her be. Or let me be really.

now to the harder part. Preparing for two friends births in July and August. I cannot stop that anxiety and sadly envy. I feel envious seeing their bellies and hearing their gestation and birth plans. But my issues again and ones I will deal with in time.

Thanks for letting me rant. Hope everyone and their little ones are well

Shaz, so glad to hear Miss K is doing so well :D I, as do most of us here, completely understand the envy you have for your friends. :hug:


Tristan is now 10 months old. He is crawling, sitting, kneeling, standing, cruising and taking some assisted steps. Everything he "should" be doing :D He is following his little curve on the developmental chart for Gross Motor skills (97th %ile for corrected age)

On Tuesday morning he finally did some babble too! And best of all it was "mumumumum" :dance: :dance:

He is eating everything we do and really enjoys his meat. He is a little savage when it comes to food, I'm sure people think I don't feed him. It's no big deal for him to eat an entire toasted cheese sandwich and most of Brendan's too. Tristan eats more than Brendan does in one sitting than Brendan does over an entire day. He LOVES water and drinks from a sippy cup like a pro. He still fits in 2-3 breastfeeds a day, but he treats them more like a snack now hehe.

He is still a petite little thing (gets weighed Tuesday) which I'm starting to get a little concerned about because he eats SOOOO much (yes I know he is more active now, but when you consider the following I think it's only fair I be a little concerned). Over the past 2 measures he has dropped 2 %iles (for height) His head circumference also dropped a %ile. If he hasn't grown in height I think I'll see about seeing a paediatrician.

His legs are barely noticeable now :D He is almost standing with his feet the right way! A few more weeks and I think he will be all good!

Shazzi - Miss K is doing so fantastically - congratulations to you both!

Sally - WTG Tristan!!

Miss C is doing well. She was 8.1kg at 8 months on 9 April 2010. She is doing very well with BLS and will only tolerate us feeding her yoghurt though most times she has her own spoon and helps.

BM is still her main source of food - even though she is doing well with BLS she has not dropped any feeds and I am ok with that.

I live in awe of you ladies and your prems. It is so good to watch (read about) their growing up

Wow little K had great birthweight my 2 littlest were 1.5kg serenity is almost 7months or 5 months corrected today lots of cooing and rolling and giggles and rasberries and mysteriously finding here on the otherside of the room when left alone to do things lol no teeth thankgod and still a booby girl not really starting solids yet

Hunter is 2.5 running jumping climbing needs speech therapy though he does talk alot but ppl can't understand him and he should be saying long sentences not just 3 word ones

Taniesha is 3.5 chatter box starting kindy next year about 15kg, hunter is 12-13 and serenity is about 6kg and now in 000

Sally glad the boys are doing great

Sally - thanks for the words of support. It is hard to explain to others, and lots of my friends are not parents as well so they understand even less.

Thanks TK and Heavenly Mumma. Little K was quite a size for her gestation.

My feelings (the anxiety and envy) about pregnant friends are made worse as a close and pregnant friend has asked for a c-section for no medical reason (she does not want to go through labour) and it upsets me. I suppose there are psychological reasons as well though. I never got a chance at going in to labour and I do not understand her decision. Less than an hour before her birth, I woke up and discovered that I was lying in lots blood, had not felt a thing, not what I had imagined at all. Dd's heart beat was very low when they got the machine on to it. Then a chunk of my placenta came out. Talk about panic. Once of the midwives was half lying on my body to stop me shaking so much. I did not know if little K would be alive after the emergency c-section.

Goodness, I started out good this week but ended up not so good.

Sorry everyone. Will go and have a bath with DD and cheer up. DH gets home at 7.30 and that will help. Gues it does not help that she is teething - BUt still no teeth!!! Anyway i will be fine.

Thanks all.

Hey Shaz
I remember how hard itwas when Charlie was in the hospital and one of our best friends was pregnant. It was terrrible being soooo jealous of her pregnant belly and the fact that her baby was safe and sound while our little baby was struggling soo much. It's such a mix of happiness for her that she was getting her long awaited baby, grateful that her little girl WAS safe and pure, raging, green eyed jealousy that she got what we didn't have.
Hugs for your bad week :hug:

Awww Shazz :hug:

Shazz - it is so hard... lots of hugs for you.

Sally2 - you are amazing coming into show support even with all you are going through!

Just got home from having Tristan weighed, at 10 months (+ 8days *giggle*) he weighs in at 7260 grams (up 220 grams in a month) he is now 70.5cms long (up 3cms in a month) and his head circumference is now 44.5cms.

For weight he is still WELL below the charts, for height he is back up to just above the 10th %ile and for head circ he is now just above the 10th %ile.

We discussed some options and rather than see a paed we are going to see a dietician first. I have some things to fill out including a food diary.
He has also been referred onto one-on-one speech as apart from the very random very rare "mum-mum" he is not babbling or making any noises.

Discussed Brendan's behavioural issues and CHN is going to get onto Brendan's new OT for me. But she said it's probably best to wait for the paed appt for now, which is in 2 weeks.

I got myself referred to physio too, not sure on the wait, but hey it's free!

So all up it was a constructive appointment, I'm very pleased with Tristan coming back up the graph for height and head circumference, just hoping his weight will follow soon too.

hi ladies, i thought i might join this group if thats ok. i had a premmie son at 34+3 weeks due to placenta previa and bleeding.
i have just read some of the posts and shaz i know how u r feeling. my friend is pg and is now 37 weeks and i recently went to her baby shower. there were other pg girls there and they were all talking about contractions and labour and going overdue. i was the same as u and i wasnt allowed to go into labour. i feel envious and in some ways jealous that they get to experience all of this. i thought it was me being silly and selfish and something was wrong with me but now i know that i am not the only one.
DS is currently asleep so i thought i would check out this forum. it would be nice to get some support from other premmie mums as they know what i went thru and am still going thru

Hi Teresa! Welcome and Congratulations on the birth of Hamish! He was a good size for 34+3 (Tristan was 3090 grams, 34+3) How long was he in hospital for? How is he going now?

hi sally, thanks
i had gd so they said his size was due to that. u can look up my bs and read it for more info if u like. he was in the scn for 13 days and is going great guns now!! so proud of our little man

Great to hear he is doing well! The nurses in NICU kept asking me if I had GD, but I didn't... Tristan was just a big boy! hehe We were lucky with Tristan, because he was my second and he was so big he was allowed out of SCN on day 6 and transferred to my local hospital so I could stay with him and they let us come home on day 8 with very strict instructions hehe and they fully discharged him when he was 11 days old. He would have been home earlier, but he had Jaundice.

I will look for your BS now :D

Welcome, Teresa.

It constantly blows me away to hear about these earlier bubs way bigger than my 36-weeker, especially when my nursery went on about how big Sam was for his gestation - which he really wasn't! Did Hamish have blood sugar issues, Teresa? We had a lot of trouble with Sam's blood sugar levels in the early days, no GD here, but severe insulin resistance.

BW

hi butterfly warrior. no he didnt. they kept him on a glucose drip for 24 hrs then took it out.

Welcome Teresa! I look forward to getting to know you and baby Hamish

hello to everyone else... I am so tired I forgot to say hi :redface:

*HUGE MUMMY BRAG*

Tristan is now walking along behind things!! Yesterday he did it at the CHN office and today he pushed a few things around :D I finally caught him on video too!! I uploaded it to facebook, so PM me if you want to see it (we don't need to be friends, I made it so everyone can view it. I just didn't want to post a link here) :D

Can't believe how quick he is doing things, it's surreal. He is 10m 1w 2d old or 9 months corrected (exactly). Sticking right to the top of the %ile graph for gross motor skills :dance: