As many of you know, our DD arrived very unexpectedly last week at 25 weeks + 6 days. I don't have a lot of time or energy to post right now but I wanted to pop in and introduce myself....obviously this is going to be a long journey.
It will be nice to share with all you experienced NICU / Prem mums....for our own reasons we have not announced her arrival too widely as yet, just to our parents & siblings and a few close friends. Right now, she is just too precious and we don't feel like sharing too much right now. So to have an outlet here on BB to come to will be great for me I think. I'm still processing it all.
DD is still going from strength to strength. She is maintaining most of her breathing herself and is doing all the right things. Of course they are adjusting her fluids, lipids and other things regularly and monitoring her very closely but she is looking great for such a tiny bub. She is active and wriggly and loves pulling off all her wires...cheeky little girl.
Today I got to change her nappy and help clean her face. Plus give her another feed of EBM which has been so important for me to do.
No doubt I'll be back in to ask A LOT of questions, vent & cry a bit, and also celebrate her milestones.
I for one am happy to "listen" to yours and her story!!
I hope she continues gaining strength. She seems like a little fighter. I can't offer any adivce on premmies but am happy to give cyber hugs anytime
Infinity - she sounds like she's doing well. My DS wasn't prem, but he was a NICU boy, so I know the routine and I know it's tough to leave your bub there. Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful DD
she seems like a little fighter already... amazing she's doing so much of her breathing on her own.
lots of love and hugs to you, make sure you look after yourself in this emotional time xo
Hun, I've said it before - if there is anything I can do, even if its in months and months time - catch up for a coffee with the kids - if you want to chat about anything - I'm here for you.
I've also ridden the NICU rollercoaster too - there are ups and downs. But don't forget to look after yourself in the meantime hun ;-)
We be following your journey hun, so proud of how your little girl is doing, and take your time sharing your news, here for you anytime and I look forward to celebrating every little milestone, because even the smallest milestones are HUGE in the premmie world
Take care xxoo
Hi Infinity, I wrote in your BA thread to not forget about you... make sure you have snacks, bottle of water etc in a bag - I found this really handy as often I would just be about to go get something to eat and DD would stir or a monitor would go off and I wouldn't want to go anywhere and those snacks held me over!
My DD was born at 34w1d and she was in for 2 weeks. I know that your and your DDs journey will be longer than that but I am happy to support anyway I can.
Are you still admitted to hospital, being discharged myself was one of the hardest moments for me
Hi Infinity - congratulations on the birth of your daughter. I had a micro prem (27+5) & Imogen was 815grams. So a little bigger than your little one. You are right this will be a long journey & nothing anyone will tell you will prepare you for the length & rollercoaster of NICU. It is both Heaven and Hell & everything in between. I am so glad you are in here and reaching out - so important. I also am so happy to hear your little one is having ebm - I know how wonderful it is to feel like you are doing something active to Mother your little one. For me I felt that Immy was the "property" of the hospital & my milk was her link to me.
I want to tell you just how amazingly your baby is doing to be breathing unassisted - that is wonderful. It took Immy 10 weeks before she was so your little girl is going great guns!
If you want to talk at anytime you pm me and I will give you my mobile #. If you were in Qld I would visit - I know how important someone who "gets" it is. Reach out to the social work staff, utilise the lactation consultant and pump the staff for any and all info. Be fully informed about your baby. Put your hands on her whenever you can - just filling her little body with your energy to help her through. Talk to her. Play her music. Also remembe she is still gestating! Look after you. Get a massage, lots of cuddles from your partner/friends/family is very very important.
Sending you courage, strength & support as you travel this road.
thats just brought tears to my eyes i remember the first time i got to hold chakotay or change him such a special moment. What a trooper hey I totally understand why you have not told everyone.
Not sure what hospital you are in - but when I had DD at 31 wks the WCH had a 'wookie' system, where DD and I would have a piece of material each which had a sphere at the top (like a head) and a material hat was sewn into it (if you can imagine casper the ghost in bright flowery colours wearing a floopy wizards hat we are on the same page). I had one wookie and DD had the other, and at each visit I would swap them so we could get used to each others smell. I had my wookie stuff down my bra ALL the time lol....and it just made me feel closer to DD when I sadly couldnt be by her side. Once I thought I lost my wookie and I was in hysterics - but phew, found it next to my bed.
leesa i agree good idea i was sick and could not visit my son in nicu so i sent up my nighty for the nurses to make his bed in (my dad said to do this) and got them to take pictures for me . It helped alot.
Congratulations on your tiny little bundle arriving safely and for her strong start so far. I saw your birth announcement and you have not left my thoughts. My DD was 29 weeks 6 days and was home in 6weeks 4 days. I shared a NICU room for two weeks with two 27 weekers a little bigger than your DD before moving on to special care.
LIke Leesa I carried around something sort of as a "baby replacement". Mine was a small hand knitted teddy from a friend and I could not sleep without it in my hands. It is really good to have something constant. I would hold it when expressing, and look at my collection of photo's of DD constantly.
I really wish i had written everything down as it is a bit of a blur now, so grab a diary and start writing down how many mls of EBM she is given, weight, when you did nappy changes etc.. You see how her feeds increase and it fills you with hope and purpose that you are part of her care.
We only had family visit for the first week, luckily our friends did not mind as she was too precious to share at first. I could not emotionally cope with others being with me other than DH and my family at first. It was like an intrusion in to our fragile new relationship now that she was out of my womb. I also swallowed my pride and told the social worker asap that I needed to see a counsellor because of past depression and that was so necessary. I saw her weekly for a bit as well as the social worker who i saw every two days or so.
If you do not have one see if you can get a mobile that does internet. I had one in the last two weeks and it was such a relief to be able to connect to the world when I would have a break, email, facebook. I discovered BB after she was home.
I cried at the drop of a hat after the shock wore off. So did the other mum's in my room. My DH did not fully understand. The tears would come mid meal, having a cuppa, talking to someone etc no warning. It is normal.
All the best and you are getting so much love and support from all at BB. Ask any questions, share or just vent. We will be here for you.
Thank you all for your kind words and generous offers of support. No doubt I will be using every one of them.
DP and I went to see our precious girl this morning, and I got to have my first skin-to-skin cuddle with her. I was so emotional when they asked me if I would like to, I couldn't get my top off fast enough! She settled beautifully and we just sat there soaking it all up for almost an hour. She has been so stable they wanted to give us this opportunity now, just in case she has any setbacks and needs to go back onto the ventilator at some stage. So I feel like I'm on cloud nine right now. It was just perfect and she was truly relaxed. How amazing.
She is still going well, they are keeping a close eye on her kidneys & fluids at the moment and constantly adjusting for her needs. She is taking my EBM well, and Deb you are so right, I have been adamant with them that she is only to receive my milk and thankfully my supply has come in nicely so she'll be well stocked in that department.
Now that the larger CPAP machine has been removed we can see her gorgeous tiny face which is a lovely sight. The poor darling is very bruised through the face, particularly her eyes, as they think she was presenting face down for part of my labour (which wasn't a very long one either!) Thankfully I got her out in a hurry.
Shazzi - I completely understand what you mean about the intrusion. DP and I are just not ready to share her with anyone else yet. He and I will be the only ones to see her for some weeks to come, we will let others in when we are all ready. I know it probably sounds a bit funny, I'm still finding it hard to explain that to a few family members - but I'm just focussed on protecting her right now.
Emotionally we are doing fairly well I think. We have DS who needs us too so we are juggling his needs with our own, and obviously everything we can do for DD we will. I'm sure the shock will start to set in over time but we are trying to remain as calm and level-headed about things as we can right now.
i still forget things like his due date and birthday it was so rush rush from our scan to his being born today. It was all so full on for the 18 days we were there. rest as much as ya can and eat eat eat and drink sweet. Sounds like your in good hands there.
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So we begin our NICU journey....
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