She's going to be premature

[dancestomyowntune]

Ok, so I have posted elsewhere but was advised to come onto this board. So I am currently 29+4 weeks pregnant and last year I was admitted, and transferred to the RD & E due to preeclampsia. Blood pressure was consistently 160/110 even after a cocktail of drugs. They started me on mag sulphate (which they have just stopped as the consultant feels it wasn't helping me and I felt awful on it). Blood pressure has now reduced (too much! 99/50), so they have stopped anti hypertension meds but are expecting it to rocket again.

I have been told I will not be going to term. I will not be leaving the hospital still pregnant. I will be here now until the baby comes, the question is just when that is safest for me and for her.

Last night was very scary. I am calmer this morning and feeling somewhat better for having had a couple of hours sleep and a cup of tea. But I am still terrified. The neonatal team came and saw me and told me briefly what to expect. They took my mum and husband to the neonatal unit for a look around and they answered questions that were worrying us.

Our care has been fantastic, and I know it's just a waiting game, but I am so scared. I have four other children at home at the thought of being here for weeks is scary in itself.

Last night, not last year! Sorry, I 'm a bit muddled at the moment

Did they say when they expected to deliver?

Sounds like you are getting good care though!

I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this .

I have no experience of pre-eclampsia, but I was hospitalised for threatened preterm labour at at 29 weeks and ended up giving birth a few days later. I remember my time on the antenatal ward very clearly, and in many ways it was the worst part of the whole experience for me. I was absolutely terrified, and I could hardly sleep due to stress. You have all my sympathy - it's awful just being there and doing nothing but waiting. Once my baby was there, I somehow found things easier to manage (albeit still very stressful, obviously), as I could at least express, and do kangaroo care, and sit with her - and some of the unknowns were at least known by then, if you know what I mean (we knew that the birth had gone ok, and she was stable and was doing well for her size and gestation). She's now one and a half, very healthy, and is so far developmentally / size-wise on track for her actual age. I wouldn't want to sugar-coat things, and I hope your baby can stay put a while longer, but even at the gestation you're already at, many babies have very good outcomes.

It's great that you're receiving such good care, and it sounds like they're good at keeping you informed, which is fantastic. If you have any questions about having a prem baby or about NICU, I'd be happy to share my experience. Maybe some other posters with longer hospital stays might be able to advise as to strategies to maintain your sanity white in hospital? Are your mother and husband able to take over the care of your other DCs?

Really sorry to read this dances - I've been wondering how you were getting on.

No practical advice to offer, just best wishes for everything ahead

Ok lovely, I was in exactly your position almost exactly 15 years ago! DD is now a healthy teenager with a messy room!

I was in hospital about 2 weeks before iirc, and then DD was born at 31 weeks and she was in SCBU for 7 weeks. I was given the steroid injection to hwlp her lungs develop just a few hours vefore delivery and apparently that helped. She still needed ventilator/help breathing (big tube) heat lamp for jaundice (so too high for me to see her in a wheelchair) and lots of other tubes and monitors and beeps and lights. She looked like a little baby bird robbed from her nest. She was too small for their tinieat premmie nappies or clothes. She made it.

Reason for her delivery was because I fitted and, therefore, developed Eclampsia. Her delivery was by emergency C-section with an epidural. DH was there and I was awake throughout although screens meant I couldn't see (DH could and took lots of photos...would it helpnto see one?) and my feet were in those stirrup things.

I know I do bang on about hypothyroidism, but American and Italian research shows a connection between hypothyroidism and pre-eclampsia. Although I obviously cannot prove it now, I am certain that is what caused mine. Worth asking to be tested since they will be taking lots of bloods anyway. I was also severely anaemic.

Sorry, meant to add that 29 weeks is a good gestation already. Really good. Yes, if you gave birth today your baby will need time in SCBU, and that can be a bit of a right of passage for those whose bababies are in the intensive care side of things. Yes, they will need to carefully monitor you and probably can't make any promises or sound too optimistic/worried and keeping a professional distance. If you can, if you are able to, ask if you can pay a quick visit to yhe SCBU in the hospital so you have an idea of where your baby might be if she is prem and very small.

I didn't like being in a post natal ward after I gave birth. It upset me being around mothers with their babies and mine wasn't by my side. So they moved me to the ante natal ward which was much better. I met many women who were in with pre-eclampsia at a similar gestation and all of them had less prem babies than I did.

If it helps at all feel free to pm.

Whilst not premature, both my babies were born at the RD&E, one induced before my EDD due to a couple of concerns (one being my blood pressure). The care I received was wonderful, and as the maternity unit is so new I personally felt very confident in the equipment if that makes sense?

Whilst I have no experience of prem babies, this came up on my active conversations, and as someone having had babies in the same hospital I wanted to wish you all the best. Plus I have a friend that's a neo natal nurse there so have every faith

I was admitted at 32 weeks with severe pre eclampsia and hung over for 2 weeks before a c section delivery. I remember being very emotional and refusing to believe anything was wrong with me!
The good thing, as you have discovered is that you will receive amazing care. They will monitor you and baby closely so you are both safe. Hopefully they can sort bp medication to stabilise you a bit better, but if your baby was born today she should be fine with a little bit of special care.
If you end up in for a few weeks then get hold a tablet or something with films / series you want to watch. I have 3 children now and think back longingly to that time sat doing nothing!! (Although I know it does not feel like the best spa break).
Good luck x

My youngest DD was a thirty weeker dance she's now a very naughty toddler.

Like the previous PP I had two lots of steroid injections before she was delivered. She was in for 5 weeks. She was on a ventilator at first I think most thirty weekers (roughly) are for a short while.

All the tubes do look scary. The picture I have attached is what they tend to start off with. It just looks worse when there so little.

and good luck.

Sorry - I missed the bit about you having 4 others at home. You definitely need a proper spa break! x

I was admitted with pre-eclampsia at 33 weeks early last year and it was a very scary time, I'm really sorry you're going through this. Their plan was watch and wait as I seemed to be responding well to bp medication, but a whole host of complications emerged a couple of days later which meant an emcs at 33+5. They really did have to take it day by day as things can change so quickly, but I can't express how glad I am that I was in hospital when things went tits up (I'd been pestering them about going home). I underestimated how potentially serious it was because I felt so well. But they would have sent me home if the complications hadn't developed when they did - the plan was daily monitoring at the hospital which would have been a massive faff and huge petrol bill but at least meant nights in my own bed. It might be worth asking your consultant whether that's an option?

Sorry you're going through this. I was admitted at 26 weeks with severe p-e and DD born at 28 weeks, severely growth restricted because of the p-e.

The run-up to the birth was horrible, but somehow you get through it. Check the Bliss website, read this board. Avoid salty foods. With four kids at home I imagine you need to put in place some plans but try and let your partner do that and then rest as much as possible (not easy when you're being constantly prodded and are terrified, I know)..

My DD had a pretty terrible time but she was unlucky (most 28 weekers have a smoother journey) BUT she got through it and is now a robust toddler. It can work out ok.

Just wanted to add to the messages of support on here. I has eclampsia and DD was delivered at 26+3 by emergency section. I had less than an hours notice of her birth.
She weighed 1lb 10oz and the neonatal experience was horrible, but the nurses and doctors there are so experienced, they explained everything numerous times to me and were absolutely fantastic. The care I received was also brilliant.

DD was in neonatal for 93 days and came home on oxygen for a couple more months, she is now a perfect almost 3 year old. She has no problems at all, her development is completely caught up and the neonatal unit is a distant memory. It never felt at the time like I would be able to say that, but you will get through this. You are in the best place and 29 weeks is a really good gestation already.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me, I will answer the best I can. Good luck, it sounds as though you are receiving good care already.

Another one coming on to say you've done so well to get her to this gestation. The closer you are to 30 weeks the more blasé the medics will be - you however won't ever be!! I imagine you've had steroids already? My dd turned up without any notice at 27+3 weighing 1 lb 15 at her lightest. She was too quick for steroids and so much more poorly and covered in wires than one of her roomies who was smaller than her. I couldn't understand it til I found out he was small from pre eclampsia but actually a good two weeks less prem. In this game two weeks less prem can mean months less in hospital later on. The neonatal support we had was outstanding but I won't lie to you, even after the 81 days in hospital it was the hardest journey of our lives. She was re admitted twice, once with acute zinc deficiency and once pneumonia, and racked up 60 outpatient trips to see her coterie of five consultants but now she's a perfectly healthy (bar a few food intolerances) and happy three year old. The only way you'd know is by looking on her hands and arms and spotting the tiny scars from her various lines and cannulas, and by looking at my grey hairs and slightly manic eyes.

Thank you everyone. I am still here, and still pregnant and 30 weeks today. I am currently on the labour ward for extra monitoring but I am hoping I can go back down on the ward later today (depending on the latest blood results). I am feeling less panicky now and the consultant has said she won't be sending me home yet as my bp is still not really under control. It was 175/120 when they moved me back up here, but has been anywhere between 130/90 and 175/120 usually right around the 150/105 figure. It's a nightmare but baby is my priority.

I was in a similar situation to you last September. I developed preeclampsia at 28 weeks and was in hospital until they delivered by cesarean at 30 weeks and after for 2 weeks as my BP didn't return to normal straight away.
You've had the steroid injections which are very important. Now it's all waiting. I went to look round nicu before the baby came. It was very useful to know what it was going to be like in advance. It was a vile time and after I was discharged I coped by limiting my time visiting the nicu. I know that a lot of mothers would camp out by their baby's cot, but I mentally needed to get away so I visited for cares twice a day with my husband for several hours but no more and I don't feel guilty. My advice to you based on my experience is do whatever you have to to keep calmer and sane-er, keep a record of when u are supposed to receive meds because I found I became much less interesting to the maternity nurses after the baby was delivered and in nicu and I had to remind them. try expressing colostrum before the baby comes to get off to a head start. And just to let you know, I was on BP meds for several months after until I was weaned off by my gp. Good luck and I will be thinking of you.

So today has been a day when I have felt much calmer. I am still on the labour ward, and currently it doesn't look like I'll be moving any time soon as my bp is still so irratic. My mum has spent the day with me though, and we have passed the time playing cards and scrabble. I saw the doctor this morning and I asked how long they will allow my bp to be so irratic without delivering and she said a week maximum. They still keep saying that it isn't so bad and that baby is quite happy, but it won't stay below 150/100 and I can see this is going to end in delivery, probably either this weekend or early next week. I am already on three anti-hypertension drugs, fragmin, ranitidine and god knows what else they keep throwing at me! I did raise concern with the docs on the effects of so many drugs on the baby but they seem to think the benefits outweigh any negatives. I know I am in the right place, and that everything is in baby's favour at the moment (last growth scan all looked good, she's had the steroids for her lungs, we've had a course of mag sulphate which made me extremely poorly! Etc etc).

Just another update. My beautiful baby girl was born yesterday at 2:13pm by c section. She weighs 2lb 11oz which is tiny, but she is just perfect! She is breathing for herself and has fabulous oxygen saturation levels.

Very many congratulations OP. My daughter was 29 weeks, 2lb 12oz and is now 4'8" at aged 8.

I wish you a very smooth and uneventful NICU journey and hope that you are all home together soon.

Lavender

Congratulations
Sounds like she's got a good start - breathing on her own is fantastic. My dd was born at 29 + 3, weighing 3lb 3oz, and she's now a horrible perfectly normal 12 year old.
Take it as easy as possible while she's in nicu, as you'll need all your energy when she comes home. She's in good hands, and, in my experience, the nurses love 'their' babies to.bits - I watched one cuddle one baby boy all night as he was unsettled and needed a cuddle, so she just did. All night. Just like his mum would have. It helped me to know that they weren't just there to look after the health side of the babies, but to love them and cuddle.them when they needed it too.

So glad to rwad your happy news! Congratulations.

Congratulations [flowers