Friend's 37 week baby in NICU, any advice?

[jakethepeg]

Hi
A friend of mine has just had a baby at 37 weeks and we all rejoiced when she got to that gestation as both of us had babies at 27 weeks 3 years ago! Anyway, I had a text from her the day after the birth to say the baby was in NICU on a ventilator! No reason given and I didn't like to ask. I have had another text today to say baby had a stable night but still ventilated.
I am absolutely gutted for her as we were so happy that she had had a normal pregnancy and was so pleased to get past the dreaded 27 week stage when our sons were born.
I have no idea why a 37 weeker would need to be ventilated, I am going out of my mind with worry for her and don't know what to do to help.
I've got her a card (bought as soon as she said she had had the baby so really happy nice card) and am going to post it tomorrow as I remember how awful it was not getting congratulations cards just because baby wasn't at home with me.
Has anyone else any experience at all of term babies needing ventilating?
Sorry I am not giving you much to go on, I don't like to ask her too much. I don't think the baby was in distress at the birth as it was a planned c section due to the previous prem birth and she was happy and content the day before the birth so nothing had been picked up on the many ultrasounds/check ups she had had.
Many thanks for reading. JTP

I don't think anyone would like to guess really. Could be any number of reasons. Could you not give her a call? When my friend had a poorly baby I tried not to ask questions. TBH,I could tell she had enough to think of without offering explanations at that time. I sent a card saying I was thinking of her and waited until all was well and she wanted to discuss it.

Good luck to your friend and her baby.

am not an expert..but all i can think is that the baby;s lungs were still a little wet, so needs a bit of help breathing..also babies born by c.s, with no labour before hand, can have more fluid on their lungs... hopefully as he is stable, then he will be ok very soon

x

my dd2 was born at 38+3 by planned section and had to got to scbu as she had fluid and mucus and was 'grunting' she couldnt clear it herslef and temp kept dropping so she stayed under heat lamp and was monitired overnight. All was fine in my scans etc and it was only 20 mins after she was born that there was a bit of a comotion and she was rushed off. Didnt have to be ventalated although they did discuss that this may be the case if she didnt improve within 6 hours. Can be very common in planned section babies especially if early. Not sure if that helps but shes 18 weeks old now and happily asleep upstairs

My DD was term and also spent 2 weeks in NICU, 2 days on CPAP (similar to ventilation, but she was breathing herself, the machine was just supplementing her breaths). She was born by emergency C-section as breach and heart rate was not responding to contractions. She was resucitated at birth and suffered a pneumothorax (collapsed lung), possibly related to me having very little amniotic fluid. She is now 10 months and is a happy, 'normal' (if there is any such thing !!), bouncing babe (although a little small - she was 4lb 12oz at birth and is now 15lb 12oz). PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT MY PICS ON PROFILE, fingers crossed, they might help.

Thinking of you all... xx

My DS2 was born unexpectedly at 36 weeks and spent 8 days in special care on a ventilator and a drip. It was terribly distressing looking back, I had a very uneventful pregnancy and no previous history of prem babies, but everything is absolutely fine now, he's a real pudding now at 20 weeks !

In my case, immature lungs coupled with the fact that it was a very fast delivery (3 pushes and he was out) meant that his lungs were still wet as he wasnt squashed long enough in the birth canal.

This meant that he found it harder to breathe, and feeding became even harder as it took him such a lot of effort. Hence a downwards spiral started, too tired, couldnt feed, got even more tired etc etc.

He was taken into special care after 24 hours on the ward as his oxygen levels in his fingers and toes were below the expected levels, and put on a drip and given oxygen in an incubator. It meant I had to express milk and he was fed via a nasal tube for a few days. I managed to get him out of the incubator to fed myself properly afted about 5 days or so. Although distressing being attached to monitors and things it was reassuring to see him improving day by day.

Your friends little boy is absolutely in the best place as all the staff who work in these areas are fab imo. Post your card, and just be there for your friend when she needs you. Hopefully they will both be home in a week.

So sorry to hear about your friend, especially as I guess she had avoided all the SCBU stuff this time round!

My ds was born by cs at 34 weeks and had to be ventilated - more prem than your friend's, but I think still fairly unusual at that gestation (he was 5lb4 at birth and looked like a giant in NICU!). He had respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and needed doses of surfactant. He went on to develop severe reflux and kept aspirating milk so had soggy lungs and O2 requirement for weeks and weeks.

Personally when ds was in SCBU I wanted to talk about him all the time - maybe try one gentle question and see what response you get. Do hope it's not for long and her baby is home soon.

my sisters baby (born may 2nd) was born at 41+2 weeks and was put on a ventilator when born as he developed a chest infection in the womb,

He came off it after a day, then came out of the incubator 2 days later and came home 7 days later,

hes fine now ... i hope your friends baby will be well and home soon xxx

sorry, meant guess she thought she had avoided SCBU

Thank you all for your helpful replies!
I and my friend have been through 3 months of NICU/SCBU experiences with our sons (both born at 27 weeks, just under 2lb each) and our fab boys are a testament to the wonderful work the NICU staff do. I am just so shocked that she got to 37 weeks and had a whopper of a baby (well 5lb 2oz seems massive to me!!) and yet she is going through the whole awful ventilator/incubator experience again!
Your comments have been really helpful as its obviously more common than I realised for term babies to need help breathing for one reason or another.
I haven't heard from her today but I have posted the card and a note.
Thanks again for the reassurance, I'll let you know how she is!
JTP