hya ladies, i was just wondering how early your babies were born? i have been told i am high risk of premi baby and just wondered how it effected you and your babies.xxx
thanks.x

Hi Kara was born at 34+4 and is now 7 months and doing great. I went into labour on my own and was totally unexpected. Kara was in SCBU for 2 weeks. Was on Oxygen for 3 hours as precautionary and was kept on a monitor for 1 week. She was kept in the unit until she established feeding. She was 3lb 12oz when she was born and was weighed yesterday and is 14lb 1oz which is great for her age and size. Kara has absolutely no health problems. To be honest it didn't effect me that much as I was just glad she was here and was well. It was just a shock as it was unexpected. It is hard going to the hospital to visit and not being able to take them home but you just have to keep going and realise that they are there because they need to be and will be home soon. I was one of the lucky ones as Kara was only there 2 weeks. Some babies are there a lot longer.

Good luck with everything and don't worry as hospital staff are able to cope with this. Please keep us informed and feel free to ask any questions at all and I will only be too happy to answer you as I have went through the same and so have a lot of others on this site and I am sure if I can't answer you one of them will be able to.

Louise

Thanks louise, glad Kara is doing well.
i have been advised to stop work as Ruby is engaged and seems to becoming more engaged by the week. i am not so much scared as wanting to be prepared-if thats at all possible. i know theres no guarenteed she will be early so i have chosen to continue working.
Did you getgiven a reason why Kara was early?xxxshe is beautiful,xxx

No they were not able to give me a reason. I was to go for my 34 week scan the next day so maybe if I had of held on they might have seen her engaged. However I didn't last that long.

They asked me did I know why I went early. I thought that was their job lol. As I didn't have high blood pressure, no infection or wasn't sick or anything they didn't have a clue I was a bit underweight so I was thinking maybe there just wasn't anymore room but thats probably me guessing and being silly. I think she was just nosey and wanted to see the best mummy in the world haha.

Louise

i have lost a lot of weight since being pregnant but have a large belly measuring 35weeks already.
were u still able to bf? sorry if u dont want to answer that sfine,dont want to offend.xxx

No worries. I didn't bf because personally I didn't feel comfortable with it. I bottlefed although she was fed with a tube at the start. There were parents in there who did bf tho. If you mean in relation to weight then I am not really sure.

i just menat i am all bump, i look huge-got accused of being ready to drop last week(which i think was a bit much).
i have another scan in a few weeks time, also my oh was 4 weeks early.
Thank you for your help love.
hope u and kara are both well.xxx

Morgana was 32+5 due me developing HELPP syndrome. She was born 3lb 4oz and stayed in SCBU for 3 weeks. She was on cpap for a few hours but breathed unaided since then. She was on a feeding tube for 2 1/2 weeks after which she was bottle fed. I couldn't bf her as I never produced sufficient milk. She is nearly 7 months now and weighs around 13lb. She is a little behind in development like sitting and hand/eye coordination in comparison to other babies her age, but has nearly caught up in size now.

Kenny was born at 33+1 and I just went into labour on the Wednesday and he was born on the Friday. I had two steriod injections to mature his lungs and he had no problems with breathing when he was born. He weighed 4lb 4oz and spent 3 weeks in SCBU. He was too little to feed so had a feeding tube and I expressed breastmilk for him and tried him at the breast at every opportunity. Its hard going expressing 8 times a day but it was so worth it when he started to get the hang of feeding from me.
As soon as he was taking regular feeds from me I spent 2 nights in the hosp with him, this is called Transitional Care, then we went home, he was 4lb 9oz when discharged.

He has no problems at all and is thriving. He is 5 months old now and his weight is roughly what he should be if he was born on his due date.

I was not given any explanation why he came early although a few people mentioned how low I was carrying and that I would never go full term and they were right. I was becoming worried about my bump cause it was a weird shape, maybe I didnt have enough fluid surrounding him. The midwife at the hosp had never seen anything like that before and thought I had a large fibroid but it was Kenny's bum and feet!

Sorry if that was a bit of a rant but so much happens in such a short space of time.

Good luck and I hope your bubba decides to wait a while before appearing.
xx

Hya ladies thank you for your replies you have helped to ease my worrying mind a bit, sooo glad all your babies are doing well.xxxx

Hey just to say zoey85 if you want to breastfeed a premmie its def possible but extra hard work keeping up with expressing. I had to fight to breastfeed my twins (born 35 weeks exactly) as they werent gaining weight however best thing i have ever fought for. They were tube fed for 2 weeks then breastfed all feeds except one (they had a bottle last thing at night, it was the only way they would let me out of hospital!) and carried on feeding until they were 8 months. good luck with it, we might be talking in here in a few weeks/months as I also have been told to prepare for a early labour, ive taken the time off work tho, dont want to look a gift horse in the mouth lol xxDBxx

HI Zoey...noticed that you caused quite a stir on pregnancy page. Glad all Ok and baby Ruby staying put a bit longer.
My daughter Amelia was born at 35 weeks. She was 5lb 7 oz and needed little help at first but nothing serious. she spent time in incubator but that was because she was cold. She then needed 48 hours of phototherapy but now at 8 weeks she is fine. Luckily she had the sucking reflex so I could bf immed. It is possible and best for early babes to be bf (though sometimes the mum cant due to her been unwell) as you express it and baby gets tube fed. Think they sometimes need to add something for extra calories for baby etc... but if you keep expressing then your milk supply will keep going for when Ruby can suckle. I glad you still thinking of bf after all that backlash you got re your thoughts on bf....... lol!!!!!!!!!!
wish you all the best and the stage you are at means Ruby will be fine and well even if she comes today

d xx

thankfully she didnt come, but i have been warned that she could come anytime but if i get 32weeks they wont stop her, is that usual? still sounds early to me if they could stop her?
yeah the bf debate? lol, i wasnt knocking bf as i really hope i can, what i was saying got taken out of context,lol.
Ruby def caused a stir, so glad she didnt come i dont have her things at home, they are at my parents and friends as we are moving.
do premi babies tend to have a harder time controlling there temps?
also the hospitals that u had your babies at were they equipped for babies as early as urs?
my mum said the hospital i was at couldnt deal with babies before 30 weeks, should they not have sent me to a hosp that could? sorry for so many questions.xxxx

Im so happy for you that things have calmed down. Its very scary when your told your baby is coming early as everything is so uncertain.

My local maternity hospital has a Neonatal Unit so I was just along the corridor from my impatient little man. I think you should find out more information about what would happen if Ruby cant wait to come into the world. I was shown around the Neonatal Unit before Kenny was born and I asked to speak to the doctors who would look after him and although nothing really prepares you, it helped a little. Some prem babies do have problems keeping their temp up so they go into the incubator until they can maintain it. Kenny spent 4 days in the incubator then went into a regular cot with heated blanket.

As I mentioned before, I successfully breast fed Kenny. The unit had breast pumps to use and I bought an electric one to use at home as my hand was killing me with the manual one.

Keep us updated on how your doing and dont lift a finger. Get a large bar of chocolate, TV remote handy and put your feet up for the rest of your pregnancy.
xxx

Thankyou denise, kenny is so cute btw.
i went to a diff hospital that i am due to give birth at, due to it being an emergency. the hospital i am under can care from 26weeks- which is good.
you have really helped put my mind at ease, i have been panicing like crazy.
i am resting now, everyone is running around after me, wich i am sooo not used to.xxx

I live in Bahrain which is in the Middle East. They are not a lot of choices here as is a small island. I had placenta previa and started to bleed at home so I was rushed to a hospital. They have a SCBU but not a NICU. If Amelia had needed lots of care they would have transferred her to another nearby hospital. This is a goverment hospital and not so nice but who cares if they offer the best care??? The reason i did not give birth there is I was over 35 weeks and my doctor was confident she would be fine. I was due to go in hospital on bedrest just a few days before she came on her own. it was scarey but I felt I was in best place.

Keep resting and like the other Denise said find out all the info you need as it helps keep you calm.

denise x

Hi Zoey I am glad everything is ok now with you and your lo and that she decided to stay in there a bit longer. It is worrying knowing that you are going to have a baby prematurely although I wasn't prepared for this as it just happened. You will be fine no matter what and fingers crossed your lo will be great.

The hospital I was in had a neo natal unit so it was good for me. I know others therefore don't which can be a bit stressful for the Mother.

I hope you are able to BF if thats what you really want to do. As I said before I bottlefed so I can't really be of much help to you in that respect lol but I am sure the others will keep you right.

So keep the feet up and get loads of rest as you won't get any when lo comes along probably sooner than expected.

Good Luck and keep us informed and feel free to ask any questions.

Louise

Thank you ladies you are really great, honestly help to ease my worries.xxx

Hi Zoey85, is your little Ruby behaving herself? I hope your taking it easy.

If you need more info about anything there is a premature birth charity called Bliss and their website is good with lots of information and they also have a chatroom.
xxx

Thanks denise, yeah ruby is behaving now! i am taking it easy but i am bored to tears- literally, i think i am going to go mad!lol.xxx

i was on bed rest for 3 weeks only and that drove me insane. NOW, she here I would love 3 weeks rest lol!!!!
I did not realise that you were originally have triplets. That must have been so frightening to lose 2 of them. Shows what a little fighter Ruby is! Just remember every day you rest is a day closer to meeting her. It is worth it.
I watched whole of Sex and City, Cold Feet, Footballers Wives, Cutting It and loads of movies. Passes the time away.
d xx