Hanging in there at 32 weeks, likely premature birth

[Limboparents]

Hi posted this on the premature birth page last night with no response, hopefully this will get more responses.

Just looking to see if anyone has had a similar experience.

I am currently 32 + 4. Since a scan at 28 weeks they have been concerned about my placenta as the pressure in the cord has been high. So they have been doing scans twice a week to monitor the situation. We were told they’d try to get me to 34 weeks but it was unlikely. Baby is also measuring small, she dropped from the 10th percentile to below 3 at the last growth scan.

We had a scan on Friday and they were concerned about the oxygen measurements in the babies head (they are high, which I think suggests they are putting it at all there where they need it?) and they told us that we are close to delivery, we were to come back this morning for another scan and to be ready to have the baby today or early this week.

The cord and brain measurements were the same today so it looks like the situation is stable and they now want me to come back on Thursday for another scan where they’ll do cord and brain measurements as well as growth measurements as I am due this. The consultant is now talking about us getting to 34 weeks and then the question will be if they can get us to 36.

We understand it’s not a black and white situation and there are several things they are going to be taking into account. The main consideration being that she is still better in than out. The consultants have been great and have really tried to explain things to us which we both appreciate and we feel grateful for the good care we are receiving.

We know the longer the baby is in there the better, but I can’t help but feel a bit flat today. I was ready for it to happen. My work have been really good about it and I am still working from home and the office, but I did pull my mat leave date forward to the 34 week mark as I was told there was no chance of going beyond that. It’s not the end of the world, but I can’t push it back and I’m worried I’ll be sat at home worrying about it once I’m finished.

I feel mentally exhausted and like I’ll be done in by time the baby arrives. I’ve been told to have a low threshold for coming in if I feel movements are reduced which has me on edge.

I had also resigned myself to a c section, which I was totally ok with. But if I get to 36 weeks they might want to induce me, which I feel totally unprepared for.

Compared to some of the older threads I have been reading on here I know that we are in a good place getting this far and the baby will most likely be ok. I just wanted to vent and ask if anyone has been in a similar situation with being told they were unlikely to make it to 34 weeks and then been told they might see 36 weeks?

Yes and my natural delivery at 35+6 weeks went really well. It may all be just fine! But I completely understand the feelings; I was on such a rollercoaster and really wanted to get to 37 to have a home birth then was just happy to not have to have a planned section as didn't feel I wanted that route. Everything was absolutely fine and baby is now 18m and I'm due another one soon.

Hi, not quite the same, but I lost a lot of waters at 28 weeks, was told labour was imminent. No labour started, but had a few bleeds in the following weeks.
Had a c-section at 34 weeks due to low lying placenta and risk of infection outweighing benefit of baby staying in.

Dd was born weighing 4lbs, but soon caught up. Now a very healthy six year old.

If you feel that you are under good care, lots of monitoring, then I feel that it is much better than being caught by a surprise premature birth.

Oh and I was scheduled for an c-section a few days before and 10 minutes before they said it couldn't go ahead as there were no beds available in SCBU. I cried alot and was so down all weekend because of being mentally prepared for baby to arrive that day.
Just told to come back on X day at 7am and wait. Was an emergency c-section in the end as soon as a SCBU bed came available- she didn't even need it in the end. 🙂

The “not-knowing” and being unable to plan or picture how things might go is so difficult. I hope I don’t sound patronising but I would say that (for me) once baby was born the pregnancy and the maternity leave issues etc sort of went to the back of my mind and didn’t seem nearly as important anymore. I did end up going further than expected but it was a massive positive rather than anything else.

My daughter was born at 32 weeks weighing 3lb 12oz by emergency cesarean due to me having placenta previa and loosing alot of blood, luckily I was already in hospital. She's now a beautiful 30 year old.