Threatened prem labour at 33 weeks. Sigh.

Yes! Well that is a challenge. The NICU I was at had everything to help me express and were amazingly supportive of my desire to BF despite the fact that it was 4 days before Sam could come out of the humidicrib (right lung collapsed during birth and it took that long to clear out the chest cavity and re-inflate it and get it working properly). The paediatrician got me a motillium prescription so that I could keep up my supply given how difficult it is to start out as EBM. If that becomes a concern, talk to them about that - and I am sure you can get it done though.

We are women, dammit! Hear us roar! LOL.

Just realised I havent seen you post since yesterday some time. Hope everything is going well!

Back in hospital - re run of last week onlybaby is quite engaged and bleeding a lot after exam. Am beginning to suspect more than irritable uterus at this point and may have a baby by the next time I go home. From my phone.

Everything crossed for you TMTM, hope you can bake a bit longer.

thinking of you hun. hope DS can stay where he is a bit longer.. :hug: xo

TMTM, I hope your little one can hang in there a bit longer.......but if not, he will be just fine, he's done pretty well so far. Every day makes a difference! FWIW I had my DS right on 35 weeks, and he spent minimal time in SCN, and although BFing had many issues, we managed it (and still do ;)). I hope your little guy manages to surprise you!

Hang in there yourself.....:hug:

Oh Hun, thinking of you heaps!!!

I hope you can keep baking a bit longer, praying bubs can stay put just another week or two at least!

I bf'd my prem and yes it was hard work, and the pump became my best friend for quite a while (if you need to go down the expressing road for a while I would hire a double electric pump, it will make a huge difference, I use the Ameda Purely Yours), and still sits beside me! But you can do it, and there are quite a few of us on BB who have done it and we will be here to support you every step of the way! I am proud to be giving my little one her boob!!

Praying for a safe delivery when the time comes xxoo

Hang in there TMTM! I'm :pray: you and your son will come out the other side of this healthy and happy.

Oh Wow. This is why I worry. Hold on little man. Just a little while longer.

Can't argue with them enforcing some bed rest on you! Everything is working out ok all over I hope. I know my DH is an absolute dream with my kids. Hope yours isnt losing his mind! LOL. Just keep your feet up and hold onto that baby as long as possible!

:hug: to you TM... hope all is ok. 34 wks today for you ...hopefully he holds on for another week or so at least. Let us know how you go honey.

Oh wow TMTM!! I hope everything is going well and that you and bubs are doing well!!

Hi everyone.

Well, that was all a bit dramatic again.

Same thing as last weekend - woke up at 4am with contractions and blood stained pv loss.

Let it go for a while, and called the hospital at 5am when the contractions hadn't calmed down. They said to go in and get checked out, so I did. They hooked me up to a CTG and this time the contx were actually showing up (they never usually do). I had to wait around for the doctor who did an internal and said the baby's head was deeply engaged. "You're going to go like a rocket when it's time," said the midwife. Well, yay for me, I guess.

Anyway, when the OB finished the exam I felt this gush and thought "Oh no, my water's have broken," but when I looked down there was just bright red blood everywhere, and I just bled and bled and bled... soaked pads type bleeding. Scared the living daylights out of me! I also felt extremely uncomfortable and had loads more contractions. The doctor said she probably ruptured a blood vessel when she was checking my cervix, which hasn't changed since last week.

By lunch time, though, the bleeding and contx had slowed right down. They were talking about moving me down to a ward by 2pm once they were confident I wasn't progressing, but I asked if I could just go home and go to bed instead, promising I'd go in if things heated up at all. Because I'm 34 weeks and because I had the steroid shots last week, they won't really do anything to stop labour and I've only got a fifteen minute drive to get there, so they were cautiously happy for me to come home.

I am in quite a bit of discomfort with the baby's head down very low and I feel quite ouchy down there. Contractions are irregular and the bleeding has slowed down to almost nothing. I'm feeling a bit spaced out and am trying to get into a good head space. I feel a bit confused at the moment - one minute I feel like I could go into labour right away, the next minute I feel like nothing is happening. I was surprised that things had changed again, with the baby's position, even though I was sure that I had dropped a bit this week. I wasn't expecting a fully engaged head, anyway. I have no good instincts at all about what is going on.

The baby is very quiet tonight... poor darling is probably exhausted too :)

TMTM, oh darlin I am so sorry you are going through this! My heart goes out to you. And my prayers are with you. :pray:

One thing you might like to think about getting someone else to do for you is to sew up some love hearts for your baby in case he comes early and needs to stay in hospt for a while. My DS was in hospt for his first four months. One thing that gave us both comfort was love hearts that my sis had sewn. The idea is that you always have one in your bra, one or two in the wash and one in with bub. You wear them in your bra so that your smell and your milks smell is on them, then you give that one to your bub so that your smell is ALWAYS with him.

With our son we used them like pillows for him as he had to be intubated and had lots of IV's etc so there were always lines and wires that needed to be padded so that his skin was protected. Ours were about 10x10cm, made of flanelette sheets mainly and padded with old wollen jumpers or cotton wadding. I didnt want anything polyester near his skin.

Anyway, just a thought. You might have some friends or people from your parish who sew and are keen to help you out. But if that desnt happen the same thing would work with new hankies. We still have our DS's hearts from hospt and have used them many times with further hospital stays.

I have been around lots of premie babies in hospt and while its obviously better they go full term, being as far along as you are is (relatively speaking) pretty good. We werent even considered prem at all as my DS was born at 36 weeks - he was small and sick for other reasons.

I know you are worried about BF. My best advice would be to make your intentions very clear about BF, insist on Kangaroo Care - skin on skin in the unit where he is and if that is not supported by the carers find a Dr who will support it and get him/her to write it up in his care plan as a therapy. It will help him grow, help stabilize his temp and breathing and he will know your smell.

Rest up well!

Rachel

Wow what a great idea Rommysmum, I have a very good friend who is 33 weeks pg with twins and will have to deliver in the next week as the little twin has IUGR and will need to go to the children's hospital as she has heart problems as well, so this would be lovely for her babies as they will both be away from her in NICU but in 2 hospitals.

MrsMac, my DS had IUGR and complex heart probs! PM me if you want to chat more about that. I might be of help for your friend.

TMTM, good luck with everything. I hope labour can be delayed for you and that you are managing to rest as much as you can. Thank goodness for your DD helping out xx

Thinking of you TM. Hoping your little guy is still staying put for the time being.

Oh TMTM, your little one is really keen to come earthside!!!

You are lucky they let you go home!!! Please take it easy and keep your feet up. Everyday is counting and making a difference!! You are doing a fabulous job!!

xoxo

Thats one impatient little man you got there, TM. Well, if he thinks he is ready then what can you do, huh? Mine went into NICU at full term (41wks) so if it was going to happen, it can anyway. :hug: The bleeding sounds horrible though. You'd think they could be a little more gentle with our insides. At least your membrane is still in tact. You can keep holding on as long as you can. Bed rest at home is the best idea anyway, imo. Just keep the hospy on speed dial.

Fingers crossed for one more - mildly, if not non - eventful month, at least.

Hoping the little guy hangs in there for an April birthday! Take it easy TM x

All quiet on the Western Front. It's my five year old's birthday today so today is absolutely out.

Been having stabbing pains right down my nether regions and think I may be losing my plug. But very few contractions. I also still have an upset stomach which I think is gastro as dh is getting it too - so that could well account for this week's irritability. So once that's settled down, hopefully my uterus will too!

Happy Birthday DD...
Hang in there little man. TMTM Feet up and relax. xo

ETA - My sister had her DS at 34+4 and her little girl is 1 now.

Happy Birthday to your little princess TMTM!!!

I hope things settle for you soon and you can get some rest!

Thanks for the happy birthday wishes for Clarebear - she was very excited this morning :D I was a bit upset I couldn't go out and buy her birthday presents, but I'll see if I can get a cake made this afternoon, even if I just get dh to buy one from the bakery and decorate it with my feet up.

Glad to hear your little one is still hanging in there and that you are resting up. Happy birthday to your DD. Enjoy your day together.

Hugs Bel

TMTM - hope that your DD is enjoying her b'day and that you are resting up!

sounds like your family are doing a good job of taking care of you.

Fingers crossed the little man hangs in there
x

Oh, happy birthday to your beautiful little girl!

Stabbing pains down there, I would think, are not too uncommon. I get them now. Sometimes its hard and others its like an irritible pin *****. Drives me completely bonkers. Sometimes I think baby is trying to claw her way out already! With the gastro, see if Dh can pick you up some lemonade Icy Poles too. Both of you may need them. It just keeps you hydrated and your electrolyte count up. Really don't need to add dehydration to the list of things you need to worry about right now. Pleased to say I havent needed them since we moved out of that dark, dank little hole of a townhouse, but while they wont cure it, they are the magic bullet for getting through a bout unscathed.

On the cake, Wollies tends to make a few each day with those decal things on top. Its my last resorter. My kids do prefer when I cook one, and usually if I cant (happened twice now with the HG) I will get one from the cheesecake shop - but if I cant afford that then we go the woolies cake. Sam was mighty miffed I wouldnt make him a "diet-buster" (The family nickname for my Chocolate Mousse Torte - michaels pattisere down here has been trying to get the recipe out of me, haha!), but he was extremely pleased with his double choc strawberry torte, LOL.

Have a really great day today, and tell that precious bubba to sit tight for a while.

The birthday ended up being good. :)

I'm feeling very, very uncomfortable today. I'm kind of reluctant to say i fear things are happening because I'm going to feel very foolish when it's another false alarm.

I woke up with a few contrx overnight, and was very uncomfortable when I got up this morning. I really felt the need to move around a bit, so I hung out some washing, and it didn't help. So I went back to bed for the day, and then got up again at about 4pm when the kids were home from school, and I felt a lot more comfortable. I'd felt a bit upset and cried a bit before lunch(mostly because I had such little sleep last night) and then had a two hour nap. After my nap I worked from my bedroom, feeling some anxiety to get some last minute jobs done so that I can just hand a ton of files over to my replacement and they will at least have the basic info they need to get going in the job.

After dinner the discomfort - just this really bad pressure and ache in my pelvis like I've had a really big kicking - was getting worse, so I thought I'd stroll the couple of blocks to the supermarket (with my phone) and get some powerade and some barley sugars to stick in my labour bag, just in case.

I had some contrx on the way home so I've gone to bed, taken some panadeine and have my wheat bag down my pants.:redface: I can't stop peeing, even though there's hardly anything there and I'm having lots of mild contrx but lying down and the wheat bag are making me feel much more comfy. No show or anything. I don't feel like i"m in labour, but to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if it happened soon.

You can all feel free to laugh at me tomorrow morning when I wake up and I'm still here :)

Oh tmtm, I hope you are feeling ok now! So sorry you are having such an uncomfortable time! I pray that if it does happen soon for you that it all goes well and you have a really wonderful birth! Just hope it all turns out how u are hoping!

TMTM I hope you wake up not in labour! Thinking of you. Hang in there little man, mummy is not ready to meet you just yet :).

TMTM, I hope your night was better :hug: I can't imagine how hard it must be for you, but you MUST rest, no walking, no hanging out washing etc. I know it all seems so hard ATM, but travelling into SCN for weeks and weeks is going to be even harder, so it's really important to just hang in there for a bit longer.

I really hope things have settled down for you, that you get to stay at home, and that you're still whinging about being pg at 40 weeks :p.

How did you go last night TMTM? :grouphug: Hope you are rested and comfortable (as comfortable as possible!).

I hope you are still resting at home :grouphug:

Thinking of you hun
xxoo

Still here :) Dh took me in to work today to finalise my replacement and have a goodbye morning tea. I had a bad night but felt a lot more comfortable this morning. I'm just really, really achey now, and feeling a bit weird about not going in to work again. I've got a couple of things to finish off for work while I'm at home but to all intents and purposes, I've finished. Wow! :D

TMTM I am so glad that you are finished to the point where you don't have to go in anymore. What a relief!!! I hope those last few things you have to do from home are finished quickly.

How is bubs today? Quiet I hope!

The little rascal is being very active, but he's keeping me good company while i type up these remaining memos :)

Glad you're still here TMTM, good stuff! WOOHOO on being (almost) finished at work!!!

:leap: for finishing your work!!! Happy to hear bubs is still baking nicely!!

xxoo

Still going hun, I saw your little green light?

The way you are going you are going to make it to FT!!! Woo Hoo!!!