Baby may arrive early

[Tootiefruitie66]

Hi all, I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant but my baby may arrive early due to some pregnancy complications although I'm obviously hoping not. If you had a premature baby please can you tell me your experience and the outcome as I'm worried in case of any issues with the baby when it arrives. Many thanks

Anyone? Thanks

Hi how early are you thinking baby will be? My son was born 5 weeks early due to complications. We had a 10 day scbu stay but that was down to me not producing enough milk and him not gaining weight - once we realised and put him on formula we were home within 2 days

I was a premie myself and had a premie, both fine. I was in hospital a while before the birth (I managed to get to 36w at the end, many weeks more than expected) and I was with with a lot of people having micropremies at 24w and it’s amazing how well they do these days. Every extra day is a win, just rest and hope for the best.

My niece was born at 33+3. Hospital tried to stop Labour but failed. She was 3lb 15oz, which was a great weight, she was breathing great but didn't have the suckle developed so was tube fed for the first week. She is now 13 years old and amazing! She has never been too far behind developmentally and has caught up completely now. Good luck

A baby born at 27 weeks is very different from a baby born at 34 weeks for example.
At 26/27 weeks there is a higher risk of breathing problems, bleeding in the brain, infections,
If you can make it to 34 weeks then the problems are less severe things like jaundice, feeding difficulty, temperature control.
If your baby is likely to come before 32 weeks then you should be offered the chance to look around a neonatal intensive care. You should also be able to speak to a neonatalologist about what to expect.

I agree with pp: how early? My baby was born 1 hour into week 35 and he was a very standard healthy newborn (ivf so certain of dates). There's a big difference in terms of how much help they need if you're talking about being born at 26 versus say 32 weeks. But many premature babies cope remarkably well with the expertise and facilities hospitals have now, even earlier ones.

Hi OP. my son was born at 30 weeks due to severe IUGR. He weighed 2 pounds 1 ounce.

He was intubated for 24 hours and then on CPAP/high flow/low flow oxygen for around 3 weeks.

He spent a total of 5 weeks in NICU with no complications apart from needing a bit of help to breathe. He came home on a feeding tube at 3.5 pounds.

He's an amazing bright little boy, just a little small!

Hi Op, my son was born at 28+3 (incompetent umbilical cord, reverse flow, he stopped growing at around 22 to 25 wks) weighing 1lb 10oz, he was in hospital for 12 weeks (until due date) he had quite a few complications but nothing serious (no surgery etc). He's now 12 and doing well but I have to be honest it's not been the smoothest journey, he's just been diagnosed with ASD and he has a few quirks, mostly emotional issues, he's a lovely lovely boy. It was tough but we've got through it.

Hi OP

My son was born only a few weeks early, but we were unlucky because he had lots of breathing issues: required ventilation and CPAP. It was a scary experience, but we got through it and he is now absolutely fine: healthy, bright and just a brilliant kid.

In terms of getting through the NICU experience, find out about accommodation and support for parents - lots of NICUs have charities who do an amazing job of helping parents while they are there. I would also investigate pumping in advance (if you want to bf and you haven’t done it before). It was important to me and if I hadn’t fed before I would have found it all a bit overwhelming.

Good luck OP.

If you want to know more Op then please ask. 😊

My first son was born at 31w 3 ds. I was in labour for about 4 days so had the two lots of steroid injections to ensure his lungs were developed before he was born ( they're usually ok after 32 weeks). I had my own room with and was told once he was born I probably wouldn't be able to hold him and that they would whisk him off to ensure he was ok. They got him stable quickly and showed him to me and then took him to NICU to get hooked up oxygen and have a tube put in for feeding and he had monitors etc put on him. Then a midwife helped me to express colostrum into tiny syringes and I had a shower. About an hour later I was able to see him in his incubator. He was 3lbs 15ozs bit went down to 3lb 9oz. He luckily had no problems at all and was able to come off of oxygen the next day and I was able to hold him on day two as well. I wanted to breastfeed so I expressed and we breastfed when I was in hospital with him. When I wasn't there he was cup fed to ensure he didn't get nipple confusion. I was home after one night in hospital, which was hard but something I just had to do. I expressed through the night and got to the hospital everyday at 9 and my husband came after work and we stayed until about 9pm. This meant I could breastfed as much as possible. Once he had gained weight and was able to sustain a good body temperature I was able to come into hospital on a transitional care ward. That was so lovely to be with him all the time. It was a small ward of 4 mum's at a time. We had a table in the middle of the room to all eat at together and a little kitchen to share and a nurse. It meant that breastfeeding could be firmly established and importantly weight gained. They weighed the babies at midnight each day. I remember the nurse weighing him and giving him a cuddle and saying this will be the last time she'll hold him as he would be allowed home the next day. He was in for 33 days and it's quite a blur I have lots of memories of it mainly happy ones but I look back and do wonder how I copied but you just do. We were just so relieved that everything was as ok as it could be.

He's 9 now and his development was a little slower to start with and he was tiny for a long time but he finally learned to sit at 10 months and it was like something clicked and he was walking by a year and said his first words just after. He's doing really well at school and has caught up in size too.

Thanks so much all. This is really reassuring. I'm hoping it won't come to it but good to know that a premature baby doesn't necessarily mean problems.