Babies born at 32 weeks

[xkatyx]

Hi I'm pregnant with twins and they have been trying everything to get out early, so eery week is a bonus.

I am 32 weeks today just woundered if anybody had a baby at this gestation and even though every baby is different just wondering how well they did etc

Thank you

Hi, my 32-weeker is currently asleep on my chest, now 7 weeks old and weighing in at 7lbs 2ozs at latest check 6 days ago! He arrived very suddenly, too quickly for me to have pain relief, let alone steroids to help his lungs, so he spent 6 hours on CPAP, then 10 days on oxygen. He also needed 48 hours phototherapy for jaundice. We've had some problems with bf, so he's bf then topped up with a bottle of expressed milk or formula. He spent 3 weeks in NICU in total, but he was 5lbs 3ozs at birth, likely because of my gestational diabetes. In short, we've been very lucky and he's absolutely fine!

Bless you, I hope those twins of yours behave for a bit longer! That said, 32 weeks is a bit of a key milestone I think, as the lungs are in v good shape by then. A friend of mine was due to have twins, but sadly lost one in utero, and the docs decided to keep both babies in until 32 weeks then deliver by section. Her daughter was small but perfectly formed. She had a touch of jaundice so had phototherapy, but was home within 3 weeks, and largely spent that time in just the nursery as a 'feeder and grower' rather than in the HDU and NICU covered in tubes and wires, although to start she'd have had a feeding tube and also probably some leads to check on her heart rate and breathing.
My own daughter was born this summer at 27 weeks. We spent 60 odd days in the unit so saw many many other, older larger babies come and go. Whereas Willow was on a ventilator for four days, ICU for a week, and then HDU for about a month and on varying degrees of O2, from ventilator to cpap, to high flow to low flow there were v few 32 weekers who required supplemental O2 for anything longer than the first night or so. I think most had a touch of jaundice, but this is easy and painless to treat, and then really its just a case of teaching them how to suckle and feed, and keeping them warm while they pile on the pounds. Willow was 2lb 4, but most 32 weekers tend to be around 4-5 lbs, or 3 or so lbs if twins. That said I wish you all the best and that your babies decide to stay put for a wee while longer, each day counts so much - and makes your time in the neonatal unit that bit shorter and less stressful.

Hi
I'm a mum of a 33 weeker and he's doing soo well. Born at about 4lb4, no problem breathing. After lots of worry, all went smoothly - he desperately wanted to suckle and eventually he was given the chance to bf and it all just toook off from there. Cue a three month continual growth spurt and he's now 8 months old and just like any other 8 mo baby physically and developementally.
Best of luck with yours

I'm so happy to hear about all the happy heatly babies, 32+2 still going strong :)

My wonderful SiL was born at twenty-something weeks. Her parents were told she almost certainly wouldn't make it - 30 years later she is very much still here, a wonderful tough beautiful woman as well! Good luck for you and your twins

My 31 week baby is on her way home from work age 24 and healthy.

Hi katy, my twins were born at 29 weeks (2lb6 and 2lb10) - they had to stay in hospital for a couple of months - but they are now happy, healthy, very lively ten year olds! wishing you and your twins all the best.

ds was a 34 weeker born at 2lb 12. Know what you mean about every day being a bonus. From about 30 weeks they were expecting his arrival any day. He spent the first 6 hours on CPAP, one week in NICU and 3 weeks in SCBU. Got home before his due date which was marvellous.

We've had a few ups and downs with his late development but he finally got signed off the ped appointments about 6 months ago. He's a healthy, strapping 4yr old. Has a tendency to get bad coughs all the time which take course after course of antibiotics, steroids and inhalors to get rid of. Unsure whether it's a normal thing or maybe as a result of him being early. It's something they are keeping an eye on.

Good luck :)

My 33 weeker is happily playing in the bath. He's 23mo and you wouldn't think for a moment he was born prematurely. His physical milestones were later than average (sat at 8mo, crawled at 13mo, walked at 19mo) but he is no smaller than his friends at nursery and isn't behind in anything now he's walking.

We had 27 days in SCBU on the feed and grow regime and although I came out bottlefeeding EBM we established bfing at home and kept it up for more than 12 months. He was never ventilated as they got the steroids in him and was born at 5lb5oz.

Best of luck - every day they stay in is a bonus.

As you've probably gathered, every baby is different. I just wanted to say that although its worrying thinking of your babies coming early, you're past 32 weeks which is absolutely fantastic and the fact that the hospital thinks your babies are going to be early means they're on standby, on notice, and they're doing everything they can to prepare you and the babies for birth. As some of the others have said, by 32 weeks, their lungs are pretty much formed and although they might need a little bit of help and watching if they were born now, they'd generally be just in hospital to make sure they could regulate their own temperatures (prem babies aren't too good at this) and to get used to feeding. The only complication really is it being twins - not from a medical point of view so much but an emotional one. You will automatically compare them - if one is bigger than the other, or if one is slightly better at breathing than the other, and worry about the one which isn't doing as well. Its a stressful time but you WILL get through it :-)

I had twins at 27+6 - both were 2lb 6oz. They were in hospital for exactly 2 months - Twin 1 didn't have any help with her breathing at all until Day 9 when she needed a little bit of CPAP for 24 hours, Twin 2 was ventilated for about 12 hours and then he had CPAP for a week or so. They were tube feed to start with but we established breastfeeding before they came home. It was a bit scary going home with them after so long with medical staff on hand but we had lots of support from the Neonatal Unit's midwife who visited us at home every other day or so at first and then every week.

They had regular check ups with the consultant until they were 2, at which point he signed them off as having properly caught up. I don't think they were behind their peers too much - smiled, walked, clapped etc all around the same time, but their speech was probably about 3 months behind (am convinced this was a twin thing rather than a premature thing - they just seemed to communicate with each other without saying proper words).

They're 6 now and you'd never know - we were told at parents evening that she has a reading age of 11+, has a real flair for vocabulary etc. Twin 2 is a typical boy, probably just as bright but more interested in playing football and rugby for his local teams.

Sorry I've gone on, but I was desperate to hear positive stories when I'd had my babies so early and call me baised but I think mine is fairly positive!! Wishing you lots and lots of luck with your pregnancy.

33 weeker here, she was small but perfectly formed. having the steroids is a godsend, she came out yelling and hasn't stopped since...

Have three sets of twins that friends had a 31/32 weeks. All of them were in the scuba of between 4-6 weeks and then required the additional care and checks described here up until about 2. One set had to have treatment with head braces for flat head issues which were resolved - these twins are also probably more prone to bugs and viruses but I don't think you could definitely pin that on being premature .

All are normal and healthy 3 year olds now.

Fantastic new mandy21, such a relief to hear positive stories from all of you, thank you.

I will be 33 weeks in 2 days :)

I had 33 weeker twins who were 4lb 4 and 3lb15 they were in scbu for feeding, sleep apnea and temperature control that's it :-)

In fact it was my 36 weeker twins who did worse as one needed recuss at birth and was on cpap for 48 hours!

Harrygravejessica were your babies identical?

Do u mind me asking how Lon they were in scbu for?

I am now 33+1 :)

Im not sure how much I can grown to be honest.

had a elise at 34+3... breathing troubles but also had Gastrochsis

DS2 was 31+4, 4lbs exactly, ventilated for 24 hrs, home aged 5 weeks .

He is now 7 1/2 and built like a tank .

Good luck with your 2 littlies - hope you cook them a leetle bit longer.

My twins were born at 31 wks (I had pre-eclampsia), weighing 3lbs 1 oz and 3lbs. They were in SCBU for 6 weeks. Dd needed ventilation for a couple of days, but other than that it really was just a bit of oxygen and warmth and giving them time to grow and learn to feed.

I had been an in-patient for about 2 weeks before they were born. Have you had steroid injections?

My lovely (mostly) son and daughter are now 14 years old, they are taller than me, cleverer than me, eat more than me, and need more sleep than me.
They are very typical teenagers.

Good luck Katy, being the parent of twins is very special, but I remember very well what a scarey time this is. Have you been shown around the SCBU? That really helped us to manage our expectations.

Ask if you would like to know more. I wish Mumsnet had been around 14 years ago.

I'm one of twins and we were born at 32 weeks

I was in hospital for 2 weeks, my brother for 4 (obviously not identical)

I'm 6 ft, my brother was always a bit smaller than average until 11 and now he is 6ft 4 so it didn't stunt his growth any

I have a minor eye problem due to prematurity and my brother had an issue with his nose (top of his nose was damaged by the tube that was up his nose leading to frequent nose bleeds but it was 33 years ago so I'm guessing techniques have improved) but we are both healthy adults and my eye condition has not held me back in anyway

have you visited the scbu unit?

a friend of mine had a baby that they knew was going to need to be in there for a while (not prem baby, he had a bowel condition) and she found it really set her mind at rest

good luck cooking those babies a little bit longer

Sorry only just got on here, my 33 weekers were in for 20 days :-) and the 36 weekers only one was in scbu for 3 days.

Hi my twin boys (non identicals) although are compleatly identical was born at 32 weeks. I went into labour at 29 weeks and had the drop to stop contractions and steroid injections to help develop the babies lungs. This managed to hold of labour for a further 3 weeks. Both of my boys was born self ventilating weighing 3lb7oz and 3lb9oz. They had a space on intensive care unit as they thought my boys would need oxygen and a lot more help holding their body temp and feeding ect.... They was moved straight out of intensive care and taken into special care where they needed to learn to feed and gain weight. They spent 3 weeks in neo natal. It's such a emotional journey. We had a few minor set backs with twin 1 (3lb7oz) not tolerating his milk and having large aspirates. They both had heart murmurs which have now gone. Twin 1 had a small bleed on the left side of his brain and I was devestated. However this is apprantly normal and after having routine scans for 2 weeks it cleared and has no lasting consequences. The doctor told me that 75% of term babies have this bleed on their brain but they just don't check for it with full term babies. So as scary as it sounded it was actually nothing at all ! My boys went from strength to strenght there currently 19 weeks happy healthy beautiful little diamonds. They was sent home on nutriprem 2 and have now gone on to aptimal and drinking 7oz aswell as having breakfast lunch and dinner lol. They sleep 11 hours of a night and are such a blessing to have. 32 weekers generally do very well I wish you all the best and if you need to ask me anything please message x