Possible prem baby and mum with cold. Anyone with knowledge needed!

[addictediam]

posted this almost a week ago :) and am 32wks tomorrow.

I'm still having regular contractions, some painful some just uncomfortable. Each contraction lasts around 3-5 minutes but not all that time is painful, just feels like someone is squeezing my tummy.

Anyway so I'm expected to deliver early and am phoning the triage unit everyday to update them. I've had a horrendous week with 13mo dd coming down with an ear infection meaning neither of us have slept very well all week (but also the main reason I'm at home and not in hospital, my baby girl needed her mummy :()

Today I have come down with a horrid cold. I think its just from being so run down but I want to know if anyone knows what will happen to my prem baby if I give birth with this cold? I'm so scared they will take her away and not let me see her untill I'm better.

Does anyone know what they will do in this situation?

I dont really know, but wanted to pop by and wish you luck, hopefully baby will stay put til youre better if not longer :) Im 32 weeks on Sunday and have been told i will probably go early although theyre not sure how early (because of problems i had with DD1) I hope you and your DD are better soon! :)

Hi addicted, I'd have thought that if your baby was to be born now he/she would probably require a stint in SCBU. I think it's relatively unheard of for a 32 weeker to go home with parents anyway - usually you'd expect premature babies to come home around the time they were due to be born. My son was born 12 weeks early but came home after 8 weeks. My best friend's daughter was born at 32 weeks and spent 4 weeks in hospital. (She's doing brilliantly by the way 7 months on!)

The baby will likely be in an incubator and you will probably be discouraged from handling her at first if you have a cold, although to be honest you will probably be more concerned than they will be about passing anything on (I know I was!) so probably won't want to touch her anyway until you feel better. There are things you can do though to reassure her - talk gently to her and when you can, wear a muslin next to your skin that you can place in the incubator so she can smell you.

The best of luck, SCBU can be a stressful place but they will look after your baby fantastically. As my baby was so small (just 2lb 12oz) I didn't get to hold him for a while and skin to skin was rare at first. I couldn't try and breastfeed for a month (I expressed gallons though!) but we managed in the end with a lot of perseverance and practice.

I hope your baby holds on for a while longer yet, every day is a bonus at this stage.

By the way, I know not having your baby with you at first is hard. I hated going home and leaving him in hospital and worried about whether it would affect our bond - it hasn't though, we knew and loved each other from the first instant and 8 months on, his biggest smiles are still for mummy

Thanks snow. We know she will need to spend some time in the scbu and have started making plans for Christmas around this (just incase really) and have accepted I may not be able to touch her.

But what worries me is that they won't let me into the unit with a cold as any of the lo might get sick :(

I'm feeling so crappy and emotional, and not sleeping well due to dd and contractions. I just feel I'm already on the edge as it is without this stupid cold :(

Bumping incase anyone around has experience.

I won't bump again, but hoping someone has been in this situation.

Hi addicted, my ds was in scbu and then great ormand street for three months. He wasn't premature, he was full term but in there because he had a genetic illness (he is cured now and a happy three year old ). But he was in SCBU where all the other babies in there with him were premature so the rules were the same.

I don't have any experience other than to say the staff in SCBU never asked me or dh or dp or dpil before we came into the ward whether any of us were ill or felt ill. But they did discourage touching in the early days. Later on in the three months me and hubby came down with a cold and chose to stay away but this was not a requirement of the hospital as far as I remember. But by that time ds was in GOSH not scbu so not sure if that is much of a guide.

So, I don't actually know for sure, but thought I would answer anyway, if only to keep your post at the top of the list in the hope someone else might answer! Try and remind yourself that although the early days are important, actually (and I know this from having spent so many painful days and nights away from my ds) it is the love and the bond that grows over time that matter more and that love would never be broken by a cold. You clealy care enough to be a wonderful mum, whenever that starts.

Hi, I had dd2 at 34 weeks, while I had a stinker of a cold.

Dd was in scubu for 2 weeks, and I was allowed to see her whenever I wanted. One of the docs was a bit funny about dd1 seeing her though.

This was also around xmas time and dd2 was still in scubu on xmas day, but the nurses made it a lovely day anyway, with a card from dd, with hand and footprints and sheets on the cots with santa on etc. Dd then came home on boxing day.

Good luck

Wishing you all the very best addicted I have no experience of prem babies but didn't want to go without leaving you a message. Would not know if the cold would affect your visiting, but as you have not given birth yet thought I'd say try and rest up and get plenty of fluids to try and rid yourself of it, don't know whether you have help with your other dc but take any opportunityto rest up and get well :)

I would think a cold wouldnt be a huge thing in scbu but understand your worry :(

big hugs and fingers crossed baby holds out till your colds cleared up :)

Hi, I used to work on scbu and no unit as far as I know would stop a mother being with her baby because of a cold. The most important thing you can do to avoid passing your cold onto the baby is to make sure you wash and sanitise your hands before handling him/her, which is something you should do anyway if your baby is on scbu. Fingers crossed your baby will wait a bit longer though x

I think if you are still physically feeling the effects of a heavy cold, NICU is the last place you should be, tbh. Your baby at 32 weeks would probably be okay even is she caught your cold, the babies born at 23/24 weeks probably wouldn't be.
A runny nose, probably fine to be there, feeling congested, full head, stuffy ears etc, then no.

Thank you so much. I feel a lot more positive now! Ive been eating lots of fruit and drinking lots today, wont do much i know, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something 'onstructive. Feeling lots better this afternoon too, really hoping she holds on longer tho, although today i have finished wrapping all dds presents and made 'final' arrangements with my parents to have dd Christmas day if baby does come as well as getting dh to book some time off in Feb after bumps due date so we can have a family Christmas later. I'm hoping being prepared means she doesn't come yet!

Hi, I had a 27 weeker last year just as the colds and flu season was kicking off and although was never direly ill, felt really quite crap and full of cold some days throughout the 10 week stay I had. As others said, it very much depends on how baby is doing, exactly how ill you are (if it is a cold it is probably fine, if the doctors suspected it was something contagious possibly caused by RSV which is nasty for prems, they may advise you to forgo handling until better) and also the SCBU environment. I think each one has it's own rules, although hand washing is a must, and it would also depend on which "area" you are in. If your baby needs more feeding and growing rather than intensive care, it is unlikely that he/she would be in a room full of much more fragile babies. In my unit, the intensive care was only 4 incubators/cots to a bay/room anyway and after that each area of SCBU was still quite small and the babies were placed as to their state of health and so could ping backwards and forwards between rooms depending on the care they needed. From what I remember, you are only not allowed in if you are at deaths door/the visit is likely to be detrimental to yours and your babys health, but you may be advised to limit the time you spend in, as well to build up your own strength again as the most important bit is being strong and well for when it comes nearer to home time, when you have to be involved in discharge plans and have everything in place! Hope the cold bugs off and baby stays put!!

My DD was born at 30 weeks and was in NICU for 7 weeks during the swine flu scare, they had a catch it kill it bin it campaign going, Basically they went through good hygiene practice at all times and hand wash, hand wash, hand wash. And they only allowed parents in. My DD was being transferred 280 miles away for a heart OP and they allowed GP's in for a baptism and they were walked through the hand washing, wear an apron no outdoor coats.
Get well soon and here's hoping Baba stays put a little while longer
Mind yourself

i had my little boy at 28 weeks and he was in the high dependency unit for 3 weeks, both myself and dad wore a mask covering nose and mouth, and were constantly washing and disinfecting our hands, the Drs said once mum had left the hospital, the chances of transmitting germs to the baby decreased dramatically, although i appreciate its different when mum has a cold.
Hospitals must be dirtier that i thought.
there was another mum who had a cough in the same room, only 2 babies per room, and Drs/nurses did not seem worried about it at all, in fact that mum was less obsessed about masks and hygiene than we were.