Delivering tomorrow at 36+1 - baby only expected to be 2kg

We have had issues all pregnancy and my ob believes we have reached the point where bubs needs to come out. It is estimated she has only grown 300g in the last 4 weeks and is expected to be around the 2kg mark - so tiny for 36 weeks! (DD was 3.31 at 39 weeks).

Apart from being nervous about being induced, after looking through the nursery and talking to the midwife I'm really worried about the nursery stay. I also worried about the effect on possible breastfeeding. How did you cope with all this? It is expected she will be in approx 2-3 weeks, so I know that's not long compared to what some of you went or are going through, but do you have some tips or advice for a nervous Mum?

Just wanted to send you love and best wishes x

Both my girls were Premmie (30 and 34 weeks). You shoul be able to breastfeed but please note it may take time. Bub is only starting to develop suck reflex now. They may start bub on just 1 or 2 a day then build on them dependent on how they go.

Don't stress just take the ride as it comes.

Feel free to ask anything

At 36wks your baby *may* not need to stay in SCN. If bub does though, my biggest piece of advice is tell the Dr's, registrars etc they cannot do anything without your consent, unless it is emergency lifesaving treatment.. As Onelittle princess said, breastfeeding is definitely possible, push very hard for skin to skin ASAP, even if bub is too weak to suck, skin to skin will be good for both of you. Establishing breastfeeding can take time and sometimes it is really frustrating because it can be the only thing holding you back from going home.. Try not to let the nurses push you into bottle feeding and try and be there for as many feeding opportunities as you can, so babe can get suckfeeding on you as often as possible. (I waited 4 months to breastfeed, but we are still going :) ) Bub may have jaundice and be under lights. Umm, trying to think of anything else to tell you... Just be there as much as you can, even if for some reason you can't hold bub, just being there makes so much difference. Feel free to ask me anything else more specific :)

I hope none of this is neccessary and you have a safe birth with beautiful skin to skin immediately.. Good luck. :hug:

ETA: If bub is taken away to SCN, the sooner you can start expressing the better. The LC will probably see you though and they will explain about expressing etc..

I'm sitting in SCN right now.. Next to my baby is a little one alternating bottle and boob 3:1. Tube feeds also as she gets very tired. Loads of babies and nurses are very encouraging for ALL mums to attempt bfing. (Apart from one or two witches but you know they're loonies as soon as you talk to them.)
As long as you're happy to stick it out and keep expressing you'll be fine. Just grab a breastfeeding brochure and kangaroo care brochure and leave them on your babies drawer in SCN. They'll be very supportive as long as you're not leaving your baby hungry. I have sat in here at 3am the last few nights listening to a baby scream from hunger while the mum sends down 3mls a time.. It sounds horribly upset :( she finally agreed to topup aptamil formula feeds yesterday and its settled and happy all night now. Bottles aren't BAD.. Boob is just better.

I can't offer any advice but I wanted to pop in to wish you all te best and i will be hoping that all goes well during and after labour. It sounds like you and bub are in good hands :hug:

Oh and take advantage ;) express one boob after bfing the other, and leave the nurses to do the graveyard shift!! Write down your feeding instructions in the space provided on your baby's care sheet. My baby has a touch of pulmonary hypertension and is on a bit of oxygen (25mL) due to unrelated low muscle tone lengthening his recovery (low muscle tone from Down syndrome) so he's perfectly healthy and I've had a couple of 7 hour sleeps. ;) not too shabby for a mum of a ten day old!

Good luck tommorow
at 36 weeks i agree that your bubs might not have to be in SCU
my twins came home for SCU at 36 weeks gestation and 1.7kg
They were 30 weekers
They might just keep bubs in for a couple of days to make sure bubs can maintain its temp, and can feed ok, esp if bubs suffered IUGR
At 36 weeks bubs will be able to suck/swallow so feeding should be fine too
suck swallow reflex comes in a 34 weeks

Definately agree with BAL and make sure they can only do procedures, feeds, meds etc with your permission.
I had a nurse about to give my twins artifical milk at one stage, when I had a fridge full of breast milk sitting there for them!!
Also dont be afraid to ask for contact with your bubs/cuddles etc. Kangaroo care is the BEST thing you can do both for you and bubs
let us know how you go and good luck

Mine wasn't prem or small, but was in SCN. I did get 2 hours skin to skin and could breastfed, but shortly after it was clear he had severe respiratory problems and they took him away :( and I wasn't allowed to feed due to them not knowing what was wrong, so he screamed from hunger for more than 24 hours :( but, nurses encouraged as much skin to skin, as that does help milk to come in, plus 3 hourly expressing, which was stored. They then used that to tube feed him. 48 hours later I was allowed to breastfeed. Just be there as much as you can. Most nurses will be encouraging you to express.

I was induced due to PE at 36 + 0 weeks. DS2 was 2 kg when born. No SCN needed as he was able to suck. However BF was hard work to start as he was very sleepy. Keep an eye out for jaundice which is common in early bubs.

Good luck! Hope you got some sleep.

GL today chody.

My teeny princess came home from SCN at 37w weighing 1.9kg. So fingers crossed you won't be in for the long haul.

Although it was only 4 weeks she was in SC for, it was the hardest 4 weeks for me emotionally. Be kind to yourself hun, you're about to have lots of emotions running through you.

DD started properly bfing (as in a full feed with no tube top ups) around 36w too. So bfing absolutely can be done.

Having to go home without your baby is horrible :( do call as much as you need to, to check on bub.

If you want to talk, feel free to PM me.

:hug:

Thinking of you today.

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I was induced due to PE at 36 + 0 weeks. DS2 was 2 kg when born. No SCN needed as he was able to suck. However BF was hard work to start as he was very sleepy. Keep an eye out for jaundice which is common in early bubs.

Good luck! Hope you got some sleep.

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Oh wow! This would be a wonderful result!

Thanks for sharing your experiences and well-wishes everyone. I'm sure ill read this thread in much more detail later when I know for sure what we are dealing with.

DS was 36+3, was only in the SCN for 2 days and hd sucked quite well for a premmie. He was 2.6kg. Biggest problem was keeping him awake to feed

We had lots if skin to skin Kanga care. The SCN were wonderful

Good luck today xx

Sending you much love for today and hoping your stay in SCN is short.

We have had a 35 weeker (2.4kg) and a 36 weeker (3.5kg heiffer boy!). Little Miss was in for just under 2 weeks until we established BF and she put on enough weight to satisfy them. I won't lie, leaving my baby in hospital was amongst the hardest things I've ever done, but the SCN team were absolutely incredible and supported me in lots of skin to skin, exclusive EBM then BF and coping with my separation anxiety.

Enjoy meeting your little one!

No experience to give you, just well wishes for you today and I hope everything goes well for you xo

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No experience to give you, just well wishes for you today and I hope everything goes well for you xo

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Couldn't have said it better! Can't wait to hear the big announcement :hug:

Thinking of you today Chody. Praying everything goes well, good luck sweet :hug:

Wishing you all the best for today Chody! I'm excited and nervous for you all at once. I'm praying for a fantastic outcome and that bub doesn't have to spend any time in the SCU. If she does, I pray that it is a very quick stay xx I'm looking forward to seeing her birth announcement xxx
All the best hun :)

Best of luck today Chody

DD1 was born at 36+2 after PPROM but was 2.8kg and was in SCN 8hrs until her temperature stabilized. She was able to breastfeed from day one but did need to be woken to feed regularly as she was sleepy.

DD2 was born at 35+6 again after PPROM and was 3.12kg. She did not require SCN and we were home the next day with no issues breastfeeding.

Both my girls were bigger than your little one is expected to be but thought I would share. Their birth stories are in my sig, my bear and my mouse if you are wanting waste time while the induction gets underway (or maybe your in the midst of bringing your little one into the world as I type!)

Wishing you luck Chody!

Good luck today Chody!

All the best today!!! Can't wait to hear the news of your beautiful little girl!

Xxx

Wishing you all the best today chody xxx

Best of luck today for your little girl, Chody.

I'm not sure if you're experienced with expressing, but if not, since there's a chance yoube doing quite a bit of it, here are my best tips: Make sure a nurse stays with you for the first session, and guides you through the fitting, and the turning it up, checking the time and turning it off after a set amount of time (and make sure you DO have a set amount of time, eg, 10 mins!) Too long on the pump on tender nipples can contribute to nipple damage/blisters/cracks etc. And get the fit of the tunnel part of the breast shield checked, also. Many hospitals only stock the medium, and all women are different. If the nurses don't know or seem unsure, get the LC to check. If she doesn't know, look on the Medela website at their guide (which helps a bit, but it's not actually brilliant). I needed a L on one side and an XL on the other, but it took me weeks and weeks of ulcerated nipples and agonising feeding and expressing to find that out.

Good luck for you and your precious baby today.

Good luck with everything. :hug:

xox

Wishing you all the best for today hun xxx.

Regards,
Dianne

I don't have any advice but just wanted to wish you all the best. Thinking of you :goodluck:

Best of luck Chody, hope your bubba is bigger than expected, it certainly is possible, Ava was 1lb bigger than expected :)

Will be thinking of you, wishing you and bub a short stay and as easy a journey as possible.

I just had a re read of this thread. All the advice is wonderful and now that I'm experiencing it, I 'get' it a lot more.

DD2 is currently in the nursery in a humidity-crib. She is perfectly healthy apart from her weight (ended up only being 1.84kg). At the moment I'm barely allowed to hold her as everytime we get her out she chucks up her feed. The midwives are hoping its just due to all the mucus and that will stop shortly. I'm just hoping she doesn't end up with really bad reflux like her big sis!

At the moment I'm really struggling with not being able to hold her whenever I want. I know it's best for her, but after having a full-term bubs in my room, being able to cuddle all day long its such a shock. I know I shouldn't complain, many of you have had it far worse, but I'm feeling a little sorry for myself at the moment. Poor midwives sometime just need to look at me and I'm in tears lol. It's also hard trying to explain this to my eager visitors who just want to hold her too....

I'm currently trying to express about every 3 hours. I only did 3.5 hourly last night as I was so exhausted and emotional from very little sleep the past two nights that I needed to try to get some bigger chunks. I actually had a couple of midwives tell me to forget expressing overnight and just try to sleep and start again this morning but I just couldn't do that. At least by doing it I feel like I'm being a 'Mum' and doing something for my baby (does that make sense or do I just sound crazy?). Since its all just colostrum I'm only getting 3-5ml at a time, but the midwives seem to be saying that's more than average (although maybe they just don't want me to cry again lol). I'm hoping my milk comes in today.

Anyway thanks if you read all this. Sorry if it sounds wingey (like I said, I know things in my case would be a lot better than some of you).

Well done Chody :) sounds like you're entitled to feel the way you do. I can't comprehend how that must feel, not being able to hold her. Hopefully she is out of the humidicrib soon for cuddles!

Sounds like expressing is going well too! Small amounts of colostrum was what I got too, the nurses told me that bubs tummy would only hold 5ml or so. Pumping 3 hourly is hard work, especially at night... I had to feed Ava, then pump and feed her what I had pumped, it is time consuming and it must be tough doing it when you can't hold bub or even have a snuggle with her to make waking up a bit nicer :(

I hope this all passes quickly for you and that you can have as many snuggles as you like soon :)

:hug: Chody. You don't sound crazy at all. That's what I used to say when DD was in the nursery "If all I can do for her is express, then that's what I'll do!".

Tears are very normal for your situation. Especially days 3-5 when those baby blues sneak up on you. I cried literally every day for the 4 weeks DD was in the nursery.

Hope your DD continues to grow stronger with each day and you can hold her soon.

No you are not crazy! It's only natural that you want to be able to feed your baby, every drop helps. See if the midwives will let you help do the charts recording feeds and temps etc. I found it all very daunting in the beginning no one would really talk to you or show you the ropes. All three of mine were nursery bubs so by the end I would just take over whenever I was there and would talk to the other mums if they were looking lost. I hope you get those cuddles soon, with dd1 we eventually worked out that holding her upright would stop the chucking so I would hold her as long as we could get away with which depended on the midwife but generally she had to be back in her crib within an hour of her feed starting.

Thanks for the support girls! You don't know how much it means to know I'm 'normal' in this situation.

I just got to have hold one of two today :). She didn't vomit whilst I was holding her for once (although I was very careful to hold her as still as possible - think my arm is still numb lol). Got to hold her for half an hour :). Hopefully she doesn't vomit now that she's been put back. It's all about celebrating mini victories isn't it?? When DH gets here this afternoon we can get her out again and are allowed to give her a small sponge down - first since birth - so that's exciting :).

I missed the BA what is her name Chody? Glad to hear she is going well!

Is@belle M@rg@ret :)

It is very very hard not being able to parent your baby when you want to.. So glad you are getting some cuddles.. They are cherished moments.. I was having 4 hour breaks at night and expressing more frequently through the day. I was absolutely exhausted and really really struggled with night expressions.. Apparently at about 2am you have a prolactin surge, so I used to try and do an expression around then then not another til about 6.. (If I remember correctly)..

Yay for giving her a sponge bath.. Does she have IV lines in? Is she fed EBM via a tube?? Sorry if you've answered it, I can't remember!

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Is@belle M@rg@ret :)

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Lovely.

Congrats chody! I love her beautiful name. It is so hard not being able to hold your baby when you want. We went through it with the twins, and at one stage I lost it and had a massive cry but felt heaps better afterwards. Before you know it, you'll have your princess at home with you. And regrading the expressing, I did the same so you certainly aren't crazy.