Mine was born at 29 weeks so quite a bit ahead of yours.
I was given a private room on the antenatal ward so I wouldn't be confronted with mums with babies. I was able to visit my baby at any time, apart from when it was doctors rounds, which was twice a day. I live close the hospital so I was able to go home and come back. I stayed in hospital for five days and they were happy to keep me in longer, so I could be close to her, after 5 days though I really wanted to go home, both me and my husband started to smell of hospital if you know what I mean.
Shortly after birth you will be shown to hand express to catch the few drops of colostrum you will be producing. Quickly after you will be introduced to the joys of expressing. You will be expressing every 3-4 hours. Don't worry if you occasionally miss a night express … your sleep and mental health is important too. You are going to be in there for the long haul …
The neonatal doctors are the most cautious kind I have ever encountered they will not tell you 'everything is going to be alright' until they're 100% certain it will be, so take this in to account when they sit on the fence when you ask them when baby can go home. My baby went home at 36 weeks gestation, but she had no complications to speak of, she was only on oxygen for 24 hrs or so, a bit of CPAP after and was soon breathing on her own (those steroids make a world of difference). The default going home date is the official due date, so I would aim for that, provided your baby is well enough of course.
I was able to hold my baby the day of the birth (late in the evening, she was born early in the morning), wrapped in about 6,000 towels. The second day in NICU I was able to do kangaroo care with her (skin to skin). Depending on how early your baby is born and how he/she is doing this may take a bit longer. Regardless of this, it makes all the difference sitting next to him. Take a few books in and read to him, sing him songs (I know you feel silly doing it, but don't!), I also had some 'baby mozart' on a small mp3 player that I put in her cot (she listened again to it the other day, she's 2 now, and I could see that she was intrigued by it, funny.), hold his hand, rest your hand on his head and tummy (if you're allowed, sometimes their skin is so sensitive that touch is painful to them). Think about what is important to you, for example, one day I turned up and found out that the nurse had put a vest on her, she had never worn any clothes before that, I was incredibly upset about that, because I had missed out on so many firsts, I really wanted to be the first one to dress her. So make sure you tell the nurses you want to be the one to do that, make sure it's in the baby notes. Like the previous poster said we also were allowed to bring in a small teddy and we took our own blankets, clothes and muslins. I also found that I was still scared to pick her up from her open cot when she graduated to SCBU because I was so used to all the wires and lines. Make sure that you treat your baby as your baby as soon as you can, insist on kangaroo care as often as you can/are allowed, pick him up as much as you can/want as soon as he's in his open cot, they love being close to you.
NICU is an emotional black hole, it sucks all normality and energy out of you. On the other hand there is massive support from all the other mums there. The expressing room doubles as a therapy room and for that period of time you are there you will make invaluable friendships, which won't last outside NICU, but incredibly important inside NICU. Make sure you have time away from NICU as well, make time for 'normality' with your husband. I used to meet my husband at the pub after his work and me coming back from the hospital for a drink and a natter - possibly not the healthiest way to unwind, but it worked for us ;-). We also watched a lot of mindless telly, I can recommend 'Benidorm' :-).
Good luck and I really hope he's going to stay in a bit longer!
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