My Premature baby

**Jessie** · March 26th, 2010, 02:07 PM

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*** · March 26th, 2010, 02:21 PM

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** · March 26th, 2010, 02:29 PM

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** · March 26th, 2010, 02:33 PM

cant post what i want to say

**Inanna** · March 26th, 2010, 02:39 PM

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** · March 26th, 2010, 02:42 PM

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.

**Rainbow_Mumma** · March 26th, 2010, 02:44 PM

Hi Jess,
welcome to BB, first of all congratulations on becoming a mummy

My son was born at 25 weeks

**Jessie** · March 26th, 2010, 02:46 PM

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** · March 26th, 2010, 02:57 PM

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.

**Rosebud** · March 26th, 2010, 03:09 PM

Hi Jessie

to BB & congratulations on the birth of your son! Hope all is going well...I know it's a struggle when your little one is born so early but he is in the best place atm.

My son was born at 25+1, 800grams. He was ventilated for an extensive period and came home off oxygen 1 day after his EDD.

On Wednesday we attended the NICU follow up clinic and was so proud that he had been give the thumbs up by all concerned. He is now 11 mths 1 weeks (8mths corrected) and weighs 7.64 kgs.

Thinking of you & sending healthy growing vibes Charlie's way

**Early Kids** · March 27th, 2010, 09:35 PM

Hi Jessie! I think I recognise you from elsewhere.. anyway

I'm Sally, mum to Brendan (30+1) now 3 and 12kg and Tristan (34+3) now 9 months and 7.04kg.

Congratulations on the birth of Charlie, I hope he is doing well. Which hospital are you guys in?

All the best for a smooth journey through NICU.

***Beema*** · March 27th, 2010, 10:01 PM

Hi Jessie!!

Firstly congratulations on the safe arrival of Charlie ( I recognise you as well

)

My DD was born at 33 weeks and was a boofer in comparison to wee Charlie, @ 2350grams.

As tiny as he is, he was born a wonderful size for a 24 weeker, but still a wee little micro prem, I have had the opportunity to spend a bit of time in our local NICU in recent months and I can truely understand how small he was.

How big is he now, how is he going with his breathing?
Thikning of you and look forward to getting to know yourself and Charlie

Take care and I hope you are finding some time for yourself to debrief every now and then

xxoo

**Jessie** · March 27th, 2010, 10:05 PM

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!!!!

**Footsteps** · March 27th, 2010, 10:06 PM

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*** · March 27th, 2010, 10:13 PM

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