Mumsnet Talk

Hello,

My cousin has just had her baby by emergency c section at 33 weeks, weighing 3.5lbs. I've had a round robin e mail from her dad (my uncle) to say the baby is in intensive care and has "some issues that are causing concern" and they are "hoping he'll pull through as he seems a fighter". It all sounds quite worrying but I don't want to bother them with questions, what are the problems likely to be..breathing I suppose? Sounds like she maybe was bleeding or something as she went in to hospital and had an ecs straightaway, but again I don't want to ask.
33 weeks and 3.5lbs is reasonably good ish (iyswim) in terms of prematurity, no?

Bliss is the premature baby charity and support organisation - there should be lots of info on there.

Breathing, feeding and temperature control are the main things, but not the only things that your cousin's baby could be struggling with.

It is a good weight for dates, yes.

I wish your cousin and her baby well x

My friends dd was born at 33 weeks. She just celebrated her 5th birthday a couple of weeks ago and you would never know she was 8 months younger than my ds.

Thanks, Beer I'm sure I'll find out more in the next few days. My DS was born (vaginally with ventouse) at 36 weeks and that was frightening enough and he didn't need any special care at all, so the poor girl must have had a really scary time and continue to be going through some serious stress. The e mail said he'd be in hospital for a while.

DS was born at 32 weeks, 4lbs and today was his 4th birthday

Bliss are brilliant, and ime the NICU/SCBU staff are wonderful at answering any questions she will have.

Wishing them both well x

She's not in the UK I should add, she's in Canada.

I had ds at 32 wks, dd1 at 34 and dd2 at 35. ds had some breathing issues and jaundice. he was 4lb5. was in for 3 weeks. dd1 had temp issues and was in for 2 weeks weighed 5lb10. both were tube fed at first. dd2 had no issues at all except being early (and clubfoot but obvis that has nothing to do with being early) and was in 3 days weighed 5lb4. 33 weeks is quite good, of course there can always be complications but with any luck he'll be fine

Hi there, hope he's OK. At 33 weeks, he'll be little and will probably need some help with breathing (especially if your cousin didn't have time for steroids before the birth) but he should be OK. As everyone has said, BLISS is a great source of information and has a forum to discuss worries and issues that crop up during his time on Special Care.

As far as I know all was normal and then something happened to make her go to hospital and they did an emcs straightaway, so I don't think she had steroids. I wondered if she'd had an abruption or a bleed.

This could be me you're writing about! DS was born by ecs at 33 weeks and weighed 3lb 6oz. His birth was a total shock as I had an eclamptic fit at home (having had no signs of pre eclampsia) and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

He spent 2.5 weeks in special care and we took him home weighing just under 4lbs. He is now 16 weeks and weighs 9lbs and is going from strength to strength.

It was a frightening time but we got through it and now have a gorgeous little boy.

My sister had my nephew at 28 weeks, he weighed 2lb 4oz, he is now 11 and is flipping fabulous.

I was born at 33 weeks! My grandparents were sent for, the priest came and gave me my last rights and I was given 24 hours to live. I weighed 4lb I think. I spent 7 weeks in an incubator and was sent home on my due date. That was 42 years ago....

More recently, I know a child born at 26 ish weeks, less than 2lb. Who is now a strapping 8 year old.

I should have said that my twins were born at 27 weeks and are almost 8 now - you'd never know they were so early. Perfect, bright, squabbling children

My son was born at 33 weeks 2 weeks ago. My waters broke early and I was given steroids so luckily he didn't need help breathing. It was just a case of him growing. I stayed on scbu as I'm breastfeeding. It is our second night at home tonight x

DD1 was a late 33 weeker (she'd have made 34 weeks but for 20 minutes and the fact the clocks had gone forward the previous night)... was home in a fortnight and the only issue we've had since was an umbilical cord hernia which has righted itself over time... no issues breathing (she got one dose of steroids in but arrived an hour before the second dose was due), some issues feeding so needed a week and a bit with an NG tube in gradually switching over to taking her feeds herself instead.

She's 1 year old in a week and a half, has caught up so much that she's now in 12-18 month clothes and one of the NICU doctors met her in the lift (I've just had DD2 so they were visiting me in hospital) and mistook her for a 2 year old the other week! (Hubby is exceptionally tall though and she's taken after him) The hospital staff where I've been staying again on transitional care (with a 36 weeker this time at least) were utterly amazed and somewhat disbelieving when I told them the big lady was a 33 weeker!

They can turn things around impressively these little ones - one of the best bits of advice I was given from a transitional support worker who was the one who really "got" things as she'd had preemies herself was not to worry, "because when these babies decide to take off - they really do it incredibly quickly over the course of a day or two all of a sudden."

Bliss are amazing btw.