a thread for mums with babies in scubu / similar right now?

[bytheseaside]

hi, id love some company:) 1st baby, 3 days old, im so lucky she is doing well but its breaking my heart to not have her with me for cuddles etc. is there a current thread? or does anyone else fancy chatting? x

[BB01]

So sorry for late reply Now Four. Thought I'd replied before! Thank you so much for all your advice. She came home with us on her due date and we feel so lucky still to have her home esp after all the initial feeding uncertainties x

[NowFourSpuds]

Congratulations to all the new mums!

BB01 I found the last 2 weeks and trying to establish feeding really difficult. My twins were in for 19 weeks altogether and I was desperate to get them home. It seemed every nurse had a different take on bottle/ breast/ tube feeding. We also found out that they were being tube fed at night despite us asking for them to be cup fed to help establish breastfeeding.
Try and speak to a lead nurse about what you would like to happen with feeding and they could mention your wishes at handover, we found that helped as we then weren't getting different opinions from every different nurse.
Please don't feel guilty about how you are feeling, it doesn't matter if you're in NICU for 20 minutes of 20 weeks, any time there is too long!
I hope you get everything sorted soon and get your daughter home soon

[BB01]

Ah I see your baby is home now OP! Fantastic news and gives me hope.
:-) bet it was emotional going back to hospital. I think this experience will stay with me forever

[BB01]

So many people have summed up how I feel right now! Our daughter was born ten days ago at 38 weeks with iugr, breathing issues and an infection. Medically she now seems completely fine but we're taking a while to get feeding on track. Stopped tube yesterday to try bf and bottle instead but terrified she'll have lost weight today as can't tell his much breast milk she's getting. We only started the new routine after a very proactive nurse returned from hol. Before then they just seemed to not to want to try reducing the tube feeds despite my massive milk supply. New nurse has hinted the other nurses sometimes just want an easy life by doing constant tube top ups just to be sure. This is the impression I had got myself. Feel v frustrated that she may be staying there longer than necessary due to reluctance of other nurses to move things forward. At same time am worried about rushing her if she really isn't ready. Have cried every day since she got there esp at night. Is so much harder than I ever imagined and yet feel guilty as there are so much people whose babies will be there for months and also feel I should just be glad she's here safely. Hope all those in similar situations especially OP find things improve for them soon. How are things going now OP? Sorry on mobile and can't remember your name!

[bytheseaside]

congrats fairimum and honeymum how are things going? I'm so thankful we had time for the steroids before baby arrived too - think the smooth ride we had with breathing in the hospital was due to that

thereistheball how is the bf going? I have such limited experience, but there seemed to be a turning point for us when it just started to work out, shifting from just a 'try' to a proper feed, then got better every day. I took all the help going, as I really didn't have much of a clue! (one of the many things I was going to read up on in the lost last 7 weeks of being pg ...)

hope everyone is doing ok today. we have been home 3 weeks now (I think - so tired!), we popped back to hospital for a blood test this week, and it made me cry to drive into the hospital grounds, which I wasn't expecting. It hit me how stresful it had been, and how everything changed so quickly for the better once we got home, I hope you all get home soon x

[HoneyMum21]

Thanks minipops - he's doing really well so far - off cpap yesterday and has even managed a little go on the breast this morning. Bit jaundiced still but is under the uv lamp for today :) when was yours born?

[MiniPopsMum2012]

Congrats HoneyMum I hope your little one is doing well? I think the steroid injections worked for us, I had my little boy at 30+1 he was 3lb 2

[HoneyMum21]

Hello all. Can I join in? DS1 was born yesterday morning at 33+3 weighing 4lb 14iz (they thought I might go into labour last week so had steroid injections then which I think helped bulk him up a bit). Currently in Scbu - not sure how long for at the min.

[thereistheball]

Congratulations fairimum! I hope your DD fights off any infection quickly.

Bytheseaside - thanks. The boys are 37 weeks now and the bigger one took 30ml today (half a whole feed), his brother 5. I generally only get to give them one or two tries a day. Next week I will clear the decks to be there as much as possible. I am feeling much more encouraged about the whole thing than this time yesterday.

[bishboschone]

Exactly what happened to me 16 months ago. Had P.E and had ds at 33+ 4... It's been a rocky road but he is doing ok ..

[fairimum]

I had my little girl Lucy on Tuesday afternoon, by emergency section due to preeclampsia, I was 33+1.weeks gestation, weighing 3lb7oz. She is doing ok and was off ventilator after a few hours, now just having a tiny bit of O2 through nasal prongs. She is bing tube fed 4.5ml an hour (aiming for 6ml). She is showing some signs of infection and they are talking about doing a lumber puncture just to be 100% sure what is going on....

[bytheseaside]

I should add this was 34-35 weeks for us, so i imagine much easier than for you, especially as i remember you don't live close?. i really hope it works for you, its so much nicer than endlessly expressing, and i felt it took the edge off the more alienating medical stuff going on at the time x

[bytheseaside]

We were, it worked, and got us home!! we had a week or so of crossover between tube feeds and bf, gradually reducing tube feeds. I made it clear i was determined to at least try bf first every feeding time possible, and tried to be there all the time. some nurses clearly thought this would tire me and the baby out! but i also had a lot of support in the unit thankfully, practical and moral support. How are you doing?

[thereistheball]

Is anyone here trying to establish breast feeding while in hospital? How's it going?

[libelulle]

not all units have a rule - my DS was only 3lb5 when he came home (born at just over 2lb)! Good luck - this will pass. My DS was in for 10 weeks and horrific though it was, it is all a blur now - he is now 2 and bouncing with health and cheekiness!

[bishboschone]

We all understand how you feel . It's so awful being away from your baby . I had to stay in the post natal ward without ds because my blood pressure was so high . It was the cruelest part . Babies and mums all around you ..it will be over soon and you will have your baby with you .. X

[bishboschone]

I honestly can't and I think different units have different rules but ds was around 4.5 - 5 lb when he came home .

[bytheseaside]

applecrumble that's exactly it! one cuddle a day feels unbearably cruel :( luckily now dd is in a cot we can take her out for cuddles more often, unless bossy nurses are on duty.
thereistheball that sounds really tough, being so far away, you must have been very brave
bishboschone do you remember how heavy they had to be? massive incentive to sort bf out! dd is controlling temp already, so that's one thing
i find the nurses make all the difference to how awful it feels. the old style ones takeover, control, patronise and make me feel useless. the younger ones, especially if they have LOs, help me feel more like a mum by letting me do stuff and make decisions. i just get boiling mad / tearful when im made to feel i can't decide when to pick up my own baby, obviously i dont want to tire her, but when there's no medical reason not to... just the worst feeling

[bishboschone]

In our scbu they had to be a certain weight and feeding consistently either bottle or breast . I think con trolling their temperature as well .

[thereistheball]

Hi. My two boys are in intensive care (I live in France) and have been there since they were born at 29 weeks, five and a half weeks ago. The hospital I was in couldn't care for babies that small so they were taken away immediately - I got to kiss one but not the other - to a hospital in a different city (2 hours away by public transport). They've now been transferred again to somewhere closer (1 hour away by bus, or a 10 minute drive). Eventually we'd like to be able to transfer them back to where they were born. The boys are doing well and have doubled their birthweights. Tomorrow we are meeting their new doctor and I hope he'll be able to explain what the milestones are between now and getting to bring them home. The care they've had has been exceptional and we have not had any major setbacks so far, but in all likelihood we still have a fair way to go.

[bishboschone]

My ds was born at 33 weeks last year . We had a roller coaster month in scbu but we survived . The nurses were fab with ds hope your dd has a quick and smooth journey through scbu .

[applecrumple]

One of the things that really upset me was that I was finally a mum, but all I could do for my little girl was express milk every 3 hours & hold her once a day. She had a drip in her hand for glucose & kept pulling it out so they had to keep putting it back in & she was having her blood sugar checked every 2 hours - her little heels were completely bruised. Fingers crossed for you all that your LOs will all be home soon. X

[bytheseaside]

ps daisychain how are you getting on?

[bytheseaside]

thanks so much for replying, felt like getting a hug. dd was 33 weeks, no major health probs touch wood, apart from being early. i just can't stand to leave her at night, the idea of no-one hearing her cry is just dreadful ( i know the monitor doesn't pick the sound up) rationally i know the hospital is great, but i just want to yell at all the nurses to leave her alone. and if one more person tells me i should go home and get some rest while they take care of my baby ... !