Baby will be delivered early - any advice?

[FifiRebel]

Evening all

I went to hospital this morning with reduced movements. I thought I was being paranoid as I have an anterior placenta and had been in a few weeks before. My baby had been kicking but I felt he was quiet and just had a weird feeling something was off.

Trace showed all okay but my hospital scans after 2 admissions for reduced movements. The scan showed that my placenta isn't flowing properly to the baby (something called absent EDF?!) and I've been admitted. Still in shock tbh as I've had a straightforward pregnancy and had a growth scan the other week which was fine.

I've had my first steroid injection today and will have another tomorrow. The hospital want to take each day as it comes and will do 4 sets of obs a day on baby heartbeat. But they have told me to prepare myself for early delivery / to potentially stay in hospital now until delivery.

I'm 30+1 and trying to stay as positive as possible. I was wondering if anyone else had been in this situation with advance notice that the baby will probably be delivered early. Is there anything I can do to give him the best chance?? Clutching at straws here but anything on eating / drinking habits etc or any advice would be much appreciated.

Would be great to hear from anyone else that has had this placenta issue too.

Thanks v much

Hi, firstly to you. It's great they've picked this up early for you, and you're being monitored. You're in the right place. I had first DS @29weeksbut knew 2 weeks before he would come early. They will want to try and keep your baby in until at least 32 weeks if they are growing okay. Best thing you can do is eat and drink normally, try to get plenty of rest and maybe if you're worried about what will happen with an early baby ask for a tour around your hospital's special care baby unit? It's a scary time but things can turn out okay in the end. I now have a very chatty pre-schooler and another on the way xx

PS having the steroid injections is a massive help for baby's lung development so that's fab you're getting them too xx

Would like to follow this post. I have just been told I may need to deliver early too due to preeclampsia I know the horrible feeling you have op. Sorry I have no advice just hope everything turns out well for you!

I had my twins at 30 weeks but was first admitted with contractions at 27 weeks. I had the steroid injections and was also put on an atosiban drip following a positive fibronectin test. So I knew I was very, very likely to deliver early but just not sure when! I was back in again at 29 weeks and managed to hold on another week before they were born via emergency c-section.

For me the biggest thing was getting my head around the fact that, even though they were ten weeks early, they had a very good chance of being absolutely fine. As a pp mentioned, 32 weeks is the goal if possible but once you hit 30, things are very positive. I met with the neonatal doctors and had a tour of the NICU which helped as it meant it wasn't a scary, unfamiliar place. I also asked lots of questions which all the doctors were happy to answer.

In terms of what to do now, the best thing is to relax and eat and drink as normal. Unfortunately if a baby wants to come early there's not too much you can do about it!

Feel free to PM me if you want to chat, I know how you must be feeling at the moment. But please be reassured that the likelihood of your baby being absolutely fine is very, very high.

Just to add, my girls are now 6 months old and thriving. You would never in a million years guess that they were prems.

Thank you for the reassurance OhIfIMust really lovely to hear your positive story. Did you get family to bring you in any food during your stay or did you stick to hospital food? I've been pleasantly surprised by quality of the food so far but there doesn't seem to be much veg/fruit going on. Not that I normally have the best diet anyway....

Thanks too bippity and sorry to hear you're in the same boat too. I'm gutted that I'll probably miss out on antenatal classes etc but I guess I won't need the birthing advice now.

birdinthebush thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed post. I will be looking up the stats on 30 week babies to lift my spirits and the tour suggestion by you and ohifimust is v helpful. Lovely to hear your girls have thrived too.

I'll update on my situation when I know more. Any other experiences to share?

Fifi similar has happened to me and I'm being monitored now twice a week with a trace. Thankfully the trace is coming up all normal and I'm being reviewed at 34 weeks. You're in good hands, I'm sure they'll keep a close eye on you. Thankfully you spotted the it!

In terms of food my mum force fed me homemade flapjacks as she was convinced it would make the baby heavier but I'm not so sure it worked?! Oats are also meant to help bring your milk in early. I did always have extra fruit as hospital food can be... Erm... Variable (ordered tuna salad one day - they'd run out of tuna so it was just a plate of past its best iceberg lettuce)... we were lucky there was a supermarket v close to hospital. As PP says babies born 30 weeks + have GREAT outcomes so just relax as much as you can and tell that baby to hang on in there a few more weeks!

mascara haven't seen you on the July thread in a while, lovely to hear you from. Nice to hear that someone else is in the same boat too. Hope you continue to have good news.

ohifimust thank you oats are now on the shopping list!!! And thanks for reassurance too, fingers crossed my baby boy is as strong as he is stubborn...

Fifi mines also a stubborn boy. Keep us updated.

I will drop by the July thread. I have been lurking when I can to try keep up with everyone but I've been so busy (poor excuse)!

Fifi - thank goodness you went in & they picked this up. I had absent EDF (end diastolic flow) & IUGR with my DS1. I had steroid injections & he was delivered 2 days later by emergency c section, weighing 3lb 12oz. He spent a month in Neonatal. Thankfully, there was no lasting damage from the IUGR, & although he was delayed with all milestones, he is now nearly 6 & you'd never know he was prem.

One thing that I wish I could've done is seen Neonatal before we went in there. I found it very overwhelming & I think it would've helped me to have seen it, & maybe spoken to other mums in there beforehand.

Good luck x

Cally thank you so much for sharing. What was your baby's gestation when they discovered the aedf and when was he delivered? What made them decide to deliver then?

Am feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment by not knowing when they will want to intervene. I know it's impossible to say but I'm struggling as a self confessed control freak to know if it will be weeks or days! I'm 30+3 today

And thank you for neonatal tip. I asked my midwife yday and she thought visits were off at the moment due to infection risk. I'll see if the situation changes in a few days.

It's great that they have picked this up and you are getting the care you need

This happened with a friend of mine - 16 years ago - the baby who was heartbreakingly tiny (could have fitted into a pint glass) is now preparing for GCSEs and has no ill-effects whatsoever from being born early.

Seconding the stuff about hospital snacks - feeding you will be erratic.

It will be brilliant if you can get your milk to come in but you may be needing to express and give the milk from a bottle (or a syringe at first) if your baby isn't strong enough to suck.

"Kangaroo care" is often very good for newborns - can you get hold of some slings suitable for preemies? (The hospital may have some if it's one of the places where they particularly recommend it - talk to them as it may not be the right choice in every case)

Put away any "newborn" size clothes you have. Don't look at them until your baby is a few months old and beginning to catch up. You can get extra-specially-tiny versions for preemies but your baby will spend most of the time naked but for a nappy in an incubator - the wraparound bodysuits like this are good because they can allow the baby to still have monitor wires and tubes wherever needed.

It wasn't picked up until 34+4 & they delivered at 34+6. They think he'd actually stopped growing at 31w. Did they definitely say absent & not intermittent? What's their next step? When will they rescan?

Fifi - how are you today?