What was your experience having a premature baby?
I’m wondering what your personal experiences were with premature birth, particularly ‘late pre-term’ babies born between 33-36 wks. You can read in books about the statistics of birth weight, lung maturity etc but I’ve never heard anyone’s first hand experience. When did you go into labor? Did you need emergency intervention like a c-section? How big was the baby? Did he need to be put in NICU? Any breathing problems or reflux? Able to breast/bottlefeed? I’m looking for as much real-life information as possible.
hey..i recently gave birth to a late preterm baby!! my due date was nov 18th but my girl was born on at 35 week and 5 days with emergency c section… well lets go back to my 33 week when one day i felt my stomach being harder and feeling uncomfotable .i wanted to go to the er but i had appt the next day so i waited and the next day they did u/s and saw low fluid and my baby was breech….and they sent me to the l&d and there thy put me on the stress test .all of a sudden i started to have strong contraction 5 min apart and the dr came and checked to see if i was dialated i was 3/4 cm and 60% effaced and thye admitted me and made my hubby sign paper and said thy will do emergency c section due to the baby being breech and she was butt frist and i was dilated ..i was in total shock omg… what is going on…i strated to cry.. bcuz my baby health and thinking sshe woluld be so small and have other pblm and ect… they decieded to give me shot to stop my contraction and keep me so they can monitor me and thy did a u/s to see how many lbs my baby was she was 4 pound and 7oz ..well next day my contraCtions stoped and thy sent me home with total bed rest and told me eat more and try to gain more weight and hold the baby as much longer as i can..i had to come for u/s and stress test very 2 days..well at 35 weeks i went for those test and my fluid level was low and thye dicieded to do the emg c sect and thanksssssss to god my baby was 5 lbs and 2 oz with no health pblm no feeding pblm and i was sent home after 4 days with my baby…once i came home i was advised to keep her away form pple and be careful with her as her immune system is still weak ..so after 2 weeks my only complain is she still dosent open her eyyes as much..but spoke to the dr. and says it normal… so it all depends on a person and luck how your baby will be. cuzz my friends sis had the same pblm like me and had the baby at 34 week and her baby had to stay at the nicu for 9 days due to feeding and other pblm and then come home ..so good luck …
November 9th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Mine was a 32 weeker. For that gestational age he did extremely well. I had to have a c-section as he had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. Thank goodness they were monitoring me closely for other complications and did an ultrasound and discovered that. He was 4lbs. 3 oz. He was on the vent for less than a day, on oxygen for less than a day and then on room air after that. He was hospitalized for 6 weeks. He did have some minor reflux issues. I pumped the entire time he was in the hospital as I was only able to try to breastfeed him a couple of times. I would have pushed that issue more knowing what I know now. It took another 6 weeks after we got home for me to teach him how to breastfeed. It was a process that took time and patience but he went on to breastfeed until he was 16 months old!
My second was born at just under 37 weeks and she came right home with us!
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November 9th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
mom of 3well i had twins, a very healthy pregnancy till i went for my 30-31 week check up and the doctor realize i was 1cm dialated since 29 weeks( i didn’t know but i felt more pressure and couldn’t sit straight up anymore) so i went on bed rest till i was 34 weeks 5 days and my twins were born after i was induced due to one baby growing more then the other, so i had them both naturally(epidural and oxytosin were used) i went into the labour/delivery room and at midnight and they were born at 12:04pm and 12:18pm healthy, the only assistance they needed was learning suck and warmth(i had steroid shots a week or so before when i was having some contractions and they thought i could have them that night. now they are almost 5 very healthy one is highly allergic to dogs but otherwise they are great.
References :
mom of 3
November 9th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
hey..i recently gave birth to a late preterm baby!! my due date was nov 18th but my girl was born on at 35 week and 5 days with emergency c section… well lets go back to my 33 week when one day i felt my stomach being harder and feeling uncomfotable .i wanted to go to the er but i had appt the next day so i waited and the next day they did u/s and saw low fluid and my baby was breech….and they sent me to the l&d and there thy put me on the stress test .all of a sudden i started to have strong contraction 5 min apart and the dr came and checked to see if i was dialated i was 3/4 cm and 60% effaced and thye admitted me and made my hubby sign paper and said thy will do emergency c section due to the baby being breech and she was butt frist and i was dilated ..i was in total shock omg… what is going on…i strated to cry.. bcuz my baby health and thinking sshe woluld be so small and have other pblm and ect… they decieded to give me shot to stop my contraction and keep me so they can monitor me and thy did a u/s to see how many lbs my baby was she was 4 pound and 7oz ..well next day my contraCtions stoped and thy sent me home with total bed rest and told me eat more and try to gain more weight and hold the baby as much longer as i can..i had to come for u/s and stress test very 2 days..well at 35 weeks i went for those test and my fluid level was low and thye dicieded to do the emg c sect and thanksssssss to god my baby was 5 lbs and 2 oz with no health pblm no feeding pblm and i was sent home after 4 days with my baby…once i came home i was advised to keep her away form pple and be careful with her as her immune system is still weak ..so after 2 weeks my only complain is she still dosent open her eyyes as much..but spoke to the dr. and says it normal… so it all depends on a person and luck how your baby will be. cuzz my friends sis had the same pblm like me and had the baby at 34 week and her baby had to stay at the nicu for 9 days due to feeding and other pblm and then come home ..so good luck …
References :
own exp…
November 9th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I’ve had two, one at 34 weeks, the other at 36. The first, 34 weeker was an emergency c-section, the placenta abrupted and heartrate was 50. NICU for 1wk. On a ventilator. He was 5-15. He had critical hyperbilirubinemia. He is mildly autistic, has cognitive impairments, is ADD, has dyspraxia, has sensory processing disorder. He is 9. He had reflux but was on no meds. He got TPN (IV nutrition). Breastmilk was pumped and given IV. He slept all the time first 6 months of life.
My 36 weeker was a scheduled section. He went to NICU for a week. He was 8lbs 5oz. He had pneumonia from aspirating meconium. ON oxygen only. He has a PFO (patent foramen ovale) its a heart murmur. He also had a pulmonary stenosis (narrowing of pulmonary artery). Significant feeding issues. He was failure to thrive. Reflux, on prilosec for 2 years. Failed two barrium swallow tests, had to thicken liquids to honey thick. He has ADHD, speech delays, sensory processing disorder, questionable cognitive function. He is 3. Identified developmentally delayed at 6 months, still getting services.
My 39 weeker had no breathing issues, reflux, stayed with me in the hospital, no high bili levels either. This is a son as well born betw the other two he was 7-14 and is now 4.
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November 9th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
My 1st son was born at 35.5 weeks he weighed 6lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. He was in NICU for 1 1/2 days due to respitory problems he recieved no oxygen or anything they placed him on a heart /resperation monitor and watched him he came home with me the following day he did have to go back due to high bili levels. My second son was just born 9-15-09 due date 11/4/09. I went into labor on 9-11-09 when i arrived at the hospital they checked me and i was 2-3 cm and 60 % effaced , they immediatly ran blood work and started me on mag (yuck) they were able to hold me off till the 15 i was on strict bed rest only aloud to get up for bathroom. on the 15 my dr came in and i asked her to check me because i had a lot of pressure , the monitor was only picking up irregular mild contractions , she checked me and i was 4 cm and 90 % that was at 4:00pm then she stopped the mag because the baby was gonna come i was already given steroid shots 2 days prior to develop the babys lungs. My son was born at 4:51 pm , he weighed 4lbs 7 oz (32 weeks 6 days gestation) his apgars were 7 and 8, they let me hold him for about 4-5 minutes then took him to NICU . He was having quite a bit of trouble breathing and was grunting and retracting. When i got to NICU about 1 hr later he was on high flow cannula room air just pressure to keep his lungs open, he had an iv started and was on the monitors. he stayed in NICU for 3 and a half weeks . I was inststant upon being able to breastfeed just as soon as he was off all respitory support, they were giving him pumped breastmilk through a feeding tube in the mean time he was also recieving TPN and Lipids through an iv. He started to breast feed at about 2 weeks old he did great with it , it took another week for him to be feeding well enough for the NICU to let him come home. Now home he is being supplemented with Similac Neo Sure due to failure to gain weight, so he breastfeeds then the next feeding he gets formula and is now doing great , so far he is having no problems.!!!! He was also born with bilateral club feet which are responding well to treatment, he does have very mild reflux but does not take meds insted he stays proped up 45 min after every feed.
References :
mom of 3