I'm in shock - a friend has given birth at 24 weeks

I got the news last night. A friend of mine gave birth on Friday to a little boy. She was only 24 weeks along. He's alive but that's all I know. I do know that babies born after 26 weeks have a 85% chance of survival. It's so sad and I've been really upset. He's only 600 grams. It's so scary and I can't stop thinking about it.

She left work early on Friday with bad pains. She was probably in labour and didn't know it.

It's just so sad. She and her husband had troubles conceiving and took about 2 years with fertility treatments etc. That's what makes it worse because I know they wanted a baby so badly.

I hope everything will turn out okay. I know he's in good hands at the hospital but it's still scary.

Fee i hope everything will be okay with your friends baby. Please keep us updated on how things go.

[-o< I hope that things are ok for your friends baby.

Fi, this may not mean anything, but when I was in hospital with Will, there was a lady in there who's given birth to a 23 weeker and that baby was around the same in weight, but hun i tell you what these tiny little babies, fight , so tell your friend to hang in there, they fight like no tomorrow, by the way that baby girl, did survive?

My thoughts are with your friend.

Hospitals are amazing now with what they can do. My niece was born at 31 weeks, and is now a happy and healthy 18 month old. You would never tell she was prem, and has no asthma or anything so far. Touch wood!
I hope your friend copes OK - its such a tough road, with days and days spent at hospital. Help out wherever you can - do their washing, cook them some easy meals for the freezer, go and visit when you can. All of these things make a real difference for them.
The last thing they want to worry about when they are at home is housework and the dishes!

I am hoping and [-o< that everything turns out ok for your friends & their wee little bubba....

I hope everything will be okay with your friend's little boy, Fee. They are in my thoughts.

[-o< everything is ok for your friends baby boy.

I've got my fingers crossed for your friends little boy, don't underestimate how big a fighter premmies are. I had a baby boy born at 32wks weighing 1738gms (admittedly a fair bit bigger than your friends little one) but while we were in the hospital there were some tiny babies there & you get amazed by what they can achieve.

Our son is now 3yrs old & you would never in a million years know that he was a premmie.

I would like to make you aware that being so early he will be at risk of some developmental problems, but then again they may not affect him at all. Just something to think about coz your friend may need loads of support over the coming months as it is a pretty long road to getting him home & they may have to deal with some setbacks.

I've got everything crossed for your friends & I hope you will continue to let us know how they get on.

[-o< Fingers crossed [-o<

I hope that everything works out Fingers crosses for her.
Let us know how she is going

The latest...

His skin has toughened up which means that he is looking a lot better and he is less prone to getting marks on his body which let infection in.

He is now taking 6ml of milk per 2 hours - this means that his stomach is working.

He has done his first and several subsequent poos - this means that his bowels are working.

He now has a central line in one arm and an IV in the other. These lines feed medicine into his body. Another line has been removed from his stomach. The number of lines in his body seems to go up and down each day.

On Sunday night, he weighed in at 722g. This is a good improvement. He lost weight in the first couple of days and would have gotten down to about 650g. As he is a bit more stable, they will be able to weigh him more often to tell if he is putting on weight.

His heart duct appears to be closed, but it might re-open again and require more drugs. Apparently the duct is normal in any baby but premature babies are not ready to close it.

He's had more scans. It is very likely that he will need a blood transfusion soon as his bone marrow is too immature to produce enough blood.

Infection is the key risk at this time. So far, he has been very lucky not to pick up any infections.

Thank you for keeping us up to date Fiona.

Sounds like your friends little boy is making good progress at this stage, here's hoping he continues to be a little fighter & that all goes well for them all.

Fee thanx for keeping us updated & would be great if you could continue to do so from time to time.

Thank for the update Fi, comeon little man keep up the fight. [-o<

Im really hoping Fee that he is getting bigger and stronger every day. My thoughs go out to your friends and to you too.

His name is Lloyd.

He now weighs 816g. He's doing well and has just opened his eyes (they were fused shut).

Also apparently he can hear and recognise his parents' voices which is so wonderful.

My friend and her husband are doing fairly well considering. It's very hard though and my friend has her good and bad days.

I'm SO pleased to hear that he is doing so well. What a relief!

Fingers crossed that little Lloyd continues to thrive and grow stronger with each and every day.