Birth at 33 weeks is not distasterous is it?

[Moomin]

One of my friend's is 33wks. Her waters went with a vengeance last night and she's gone itno hospital. First they told her she'd just have to stay in until the baby was born but now they're saying there's very little amniotic fluid and they're 90% she'll have him in the next 48 hours. She's ahd the steroid injections for his lungs. The baby is across her as well so if labour doesn't move him she'll have to have a c-s. He'll be her third ds.

She crapping herself but he should be ok shouldn't he?

friends !

and wtf does distasterous mean??!!!

It's 7 weeks early, which isn't too bad. One of my friends survived 27 years ago and she was 11 weeks early.

The figures are made worse by the fact that mums on drugs often have prem babies, who of course are not as healthy because of the drugs, rather than the prematurity, and have a higher mortality. Hers, if healthy otherwise, really should be fine. more likely to have asthma, I think.

My brother was born 32 years ago 8 weeks early. He was small (3lbs) , but has grown into a tall healthy adult. No problems at all.

My DD has two friends who were born at 32 weeks (on the same day!) - one had steroids, one didn't. They were both in SCBU for a while but no other problems and now, at 4 yrs old, you would never know. Actually you wouldn't have known from about 18mths!

Good luck to your friend.

One of my ante-natal friends had her baby at 30 weeks. I freaked out at the doctor's the next day (I was 29 weeks), but he assured me that it would be okay.

Her little boy is now 2 years old and absolutely fine and healthy.

Good luck to your friend though

My niece was born at 24 weeks and weighed llb. She's nearly 2 and fine. The steroids for the lungs really help.

My mum had my half brother at 32 weeks at home (obviously not through choice)3 years ago, they didnt even want her to go into hospital as he was fine when he came out, although i think she should have.

i believe the midwife was a bit dim, my mother was screaming and pushing whilst she was on the phone to the midwife, and the midwife said she 'obviously wasnt in labour because she was talking to her'

my Ds was 27 weeks and 2lb. He's fine at 17 months. Blimey castles 24 weeks is EARLY!

dd2 was born at 29 weeks. there's a couple of pictures of her when she was still in hospital on my profile. the one in the incubator was taken when she was about 2 weeks old, the one with me holding her when she was about 6 weeks old.

she stayed in til her due date although a lot of babies leave from 36 weeks plus. she is still bf at 10 months so she can still do this if those were her plans.

the reason dd2 was early was waters went, infection rate went up, she stopped moving on day 4 and i went into labour. she was emergency cs as she was breech.

i also had the injections to improve her lungs but she did end up being ventilated due to infection. the very early babies (26 weeks and under) are the ones to worry about, but these days babies get on really well in scbu.

My brother was born at 30 weeks (3lbs) and is now a strapping 6'2" mega-boffin

Chances are the baby will be fine- she is having steroids so the baby's lungs will be more mature, and if there is little fluid, he's probably geared up for being born anyway, so the steroids will be a bonus. This happened at 29 weeks to a friend, and she had her son at 30 weeks. He was absolutely fine (possibly due to the steroids?) and suffered absolutely no ill-effects from prematurity. At 3 he was the most beautiful strapping lad you could hope for.

Just to second what others have said. The steroids really work, and at 33 weeks your friend's baby's lungs should be OK, I think. They don't bother giving them after about 34/35 weeks, so I'm basing my view on this fact (I'm not a doctor or anything ... well, not a real doctor... at people on PhD thread last week!]. Your friend's baby will probably be quite small (guessing 3-4 lbs) and might have trouble maintaining his/her body temperature, so might need to be in an incubator or on a heat pad for a while. He could also very well have problems feeding himself and might well need to be fed by nasal-gastric tube for a while. EBM can be put down the tube and your friend should be able to request donated EBM until she gets her own supply established. They only put very small amounts down the tube at a time, so it might need to be done at very regular intervals (e.g. two-hourly).

My dd was born at 36 weeks (official date) but was smaller than a 36-weeker and her real age was estimated at between 34 and 35 weeks. She was 4lb 12oz and needed to be kept warm for a day. She was fed by NGT for a week or so. She was smaller than average for about 18 months, but caught up between 18 months and 2.5-ish and is now a completely average 7 year old. (Oh, and I had the steroids weekly from 27 weeks to 34 weeks and was told I didn't need any more after that.)

Sorry to hear your friend is going through this. It must be really stressful, but there is every chance that her baby will be absolutely fine at this stage. Good luck to her.

Ds was born at 34+3 as I had severe pre-eclampsia. The consultant told me that at 34 weeks a baby has exactly the same long term prospects as a term baby, they just need a bit of help at the beginning, so probably similar for 33 weeks. I had the steroid injections but ds still had respiratory distress syndrome and was on a ventilator for 4 days, then CPAP (which is less invasive help with breathing) and then oxygen through little prongs in his nose for about 3 weeks, but I think this is pretty unusual for 33-34wks, most of the other babies I saw at that age just needed help with temp and gaining weight (ds was 5lb4 at birth and never had any trouble with weight gain - still doesn't!). Her baby will probably be in an incubator to begin with and have a tube through his nose or mouth into his stomach for feeding. She should be able to give ebm, and ask for donor ebm until she gets her expressing started. If the baby is very slow to gain weight, the ebm might need supplementing. The NICU staff will teach her how to feed him. The first time you go into NICU, even if your baby isn't that poorly, is very scary and pretty horrible, she will probably need a lot of support. My ds was never in any real danger but I couldn't hold him until he was 5 days old and he had a couple of set backs during his 2 month stay in SCBU, it was pretty upsetting and helped to have someone to talk to about it. Ds now 9 months, fit, healthy and very very heavy!

Just noticed you posted on Monday, has she had the baby? Hope everything is going well.

Ds3 was born at 32 weeks, I had steroids but he still had slight breathing difficulties. He was 5lb 3 oz which is big for a 32 weeker. He is very bright and very bossy!

Alfie Jack was born yesterday morning; 5lbs 1 oz. He's in scbu but doing well and she's ok too, just a bit anxious, obviously.

that's a good weight. glad things are going well for him.

Glad he's a good weight.

thats a good weight! My mate had a baby girl 2 weeks ago weighing in at 4lb 1oz and being 7 weeks early. Baby is now out after 3 days in scbu and 7 days in ward to check feeding etc.

Glad he's doing well! I had an emergency CS with DS2 at 33 weeks, he was 5lb 9oz. He was in SCBU for around a month (there wasn't enough time for steroids so he needed ventilator and CPAP for a while) - he's now a perfectly healthy 5 year old. Congratulations to your friend, I hope she gets to take him home soon.

Hi,
My ds was born at 34 weeks, similar story, waters broke at 33 weeks, had the steroid injections, he hung in for a week and was then born at 34 weeks. He weighed 5lb 9.

He was on a ventilator for 3 days, (on antibiotics as had infection also) and in scbu for 7 days but we came home after 10 days. I expressed milk in hospital and after about 5 days managed to start feeding him my self.

It was very distressing seeing him in an incubator, lots of tubes etc but he has done fine since. Mild asthma but could be inherited from his dad anyway.

He is now nearly 8 and v fit and healthy.

congrats to your friend, hope all goes well
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