35 week IUGR baby being delivered tomorrow

[theotherfossilsister]

He's only grown forty grams in the past fortnight and is about a kilo and a half. Just been admitted. It's a shock after we were told we could go to thirty seven weeks but I trust fetal medicine have made the right call as placenta Doppler also not great

Just wondering what we can expect

Mine was 1.5Kg at 34 weeks, they won't be able to tell how your baby is until they arrive but they are making the decision as he's stopped thriving.
MIne is now 12 years old and a normal preteen but was tiny for their first 2 years- on the 9th centile for a long time but has caught up now.
Expect a crowd in the delivery room and your baby will be taken to NICU quickly and supported however he needs. The NICU team were amazing, expect a long NICU stay we were there until term and a goal weight.
Trust the team, they know what they're doing.

Hello @theotherfossilsister i remember you from my Papp-a thread. I’m sorry this has happened. I also got recent bad news about foetal Dopplers, but am so far holding on at 35 weeks.

I’m sure lots of people will have reassuring stories soon. My consultant keeps stressing how quickly IUGR babies catch up with their growth when they’re out. Also it’s not a given that you’ll need extra care at this point but obviously everything is dependent on what they call “the condition of the baby”.

Sending you all the best for tomorrow.

I has my DS at 34 weeks and they said he would be very small, would weigh less than 1.5kg and came out at 2.3kg.

They won't know how your baby will be until born. Whatever happens, the care in NICU is fantastic. My DS needed 2 weeks before he could come home.

Fingers crossed for you and wishing all the best for tomorrow. Its a scary time but no matter what happens you'll be ok.

Also meant to add by the time my DS reached 5 months he was bloody huge! Only 9kg and had to move on to 9-12 months clothing. He's 8.5 months and full of beans, you would have never known he was 6 weeks early.

Thank you so much @Moancup and so glad you're holding on.

Thank you @MDevane86 I'd love him to weigh more and be stronger. More than anything I need him to be alive.

@MDevane86 were you able to breastfeed? I'd love to do that

Here for a handhold. IUGR DD was born at 37 weeks and we were very lucky she was fine, but I remember the incredible stress of all the monitoring and never knowing if she might need to be born v quickly or how that would go.

Sending you and DS so many good wishes.

Thank you @TotalRhubarb

@theotherfossilsister No, I had to give it up due to low supply as a has a large chunk of retained placenta. I found out after I had given up breastfeeding.

The nurses and doctors in NICU did put a lot of pressure on me to breastfeed. After delivery, I was so ill as it was truly horrific and could barely walk and the pressure they put me under was unreal. I was expressing as much as I could and still asked to express even more. I literally could not have tried harder and continued when he was home but the effort nearly killed me.

In the nicest way possible, breastfeeding doesn't mean your DC will come home any sooner or mean you are better mother for doing so. The best thing you can do is you being there as much as you can and being responsive to your DC's needs when he comes home. I wish gave it up earlier instead of spending my time being upset at my low supply.

Please be kind to yourself whatever happens.

My brother was born at 35 weeks weighing less than 4lb, he was born 17 March, home 5 April & weighed 21lb when he was christened in July.

Good luck!

I had a small baby (though not as tiny as yours). Breastfeeding was hard - please get lots of support and remember you can ask to be referred to the infant feeding team. DD had a 2week NICU stay (not just because she was small but because she also had sepsis) and to start with she couldnt BF - so i expressed and she had a combo of my milk + donor milk through a tube and then a syringe. When we got home, we got some great help. Worth looking up local NCT / LLL / breastfeeding consultants before they make their appearance. We managed to combi feed for 9 months in the end. The Kelly Mom website is a great source of help at 3am!!

DD was below 0.4th centile for a while but took to weaning like a champ and now at 12months old is 50th centile! So even with a tricky start, it doesn't mean they will always be tiny.

Fetal medicine are great and the NICU staff are amazing human beings. I hope you are all very well looked after. All the very best for the birth

Oh no, that sounds horrible @MDevane86

I'm hoping they'll be nicer here.

Thank you @Nat6999

I had an IUGR baby at 34w. He was 1.7kg. He stayed in Neonatal for a month. Breast feeding was difficult because his sucking reflex was under developed.

I found it very scary to start with. He was whisked away from me in theatre minutes after being born and I didn't get to see him for nearly 24 hours. I had no idea what to expect with Neonatal. If you have an option to see the Unit before you deliver, I would recommend it.

My DS is 12 now and there was no lasting damage, thankfully. I was very lucky.

Wishing you all the best x

I still remember how excited (and scared!) I was the night before the scheduled delivery of my IUGR baby boy only few years ago. He was born at 32 weeks weighting only 1kg. He's always been on the small side but developing absolutely fine following his own curve. Still smaller than average at 3 but it could also be genes as I am very tiny and there are small people on dad's side too. But he's healthy, super active and smart.
After he was born we spent several weeks in NICU as he was too young to know how to regulate his body temperature or how to suck (he was tube fed with my breastmilk). But at 35 weeks your little one might be able to do all these things already or be closer to.

My DD was born at 33 weeks and weighed 2kg by c section.
She was below the 9th centile for ages but has more or less caught up now. Though the smallest in her class still! She is 9 nearly 10. She was in NICU for a few days.

I had the same. Born a bit earlier but was the same weight. He had 3.5 weeks in hospital, no issues with breathing or anything. Just got jaundice for a few days.

I did manage to bf but the first few weeks it didn’t work at all. He was just too tiny and tired to suck. So in the end I pumped and gave formula too coz I couldn’t pump enough. Got there in the end with bf but it was extremely distressing not being able to bf. I wish I’d been able to relax more about it and just accept I might have to formula feed. But I just had the breast is best thing stuck in my head and felt like formula was poison. It’s really not. Formula is totally fine. Anyway, I ended up full time bf after a couple of months because I persevered so much, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend stressing as much as I did. It was not good for my mental health.

I had a 34 weeker, weighed 1.8kg. He was in SCBU for 3 weeks, thanks to the steroids they gave me before I had my section his lungs were fine, his main issue was not controlling body temp and needing to be tube fed for the first 3 weeks.

I had excellent care, and bf support throughout, and the Kellymom website was great too. I expressed for his tube feeds and gradually built up to bf, as he’d get worn out with feeding himself! When he was ready for discharge they got me to stay in the post natal ward for the weekend feeding him without intervention, checked his weight in the Monday and we were allowed home as he’d managed to gain weight.

im not going to lie, bf was tough with him. He had a lot of reflux, and I had issues with oversupply due to expressing, but we were lucky it worked out for us. If it doesn’t, be kind to yourself, doesn’t really matter how your baby is fed, what matters is the love and care you have for them. My DS was very small for a number of years (other health issues at play), but at 10yo like every other football mad kid, and uoud never know he had such a bumpy start to life.

virtual hand hold, and I hope things go well.

theotherfossilsister He was is special care for about 10 days & then progressed to be able to come home, my mum had problems finding bottles to suit him because he was tube fed in hospital at first but when he found out what his mouth was for he never stopped. He is 50 & well over 6' now.

Thank you @Cally70 , that must have been so difficult. They actually showed us NICU earlier. It's very overwhelming. My priority is for my baby to be alive but I also if possible really want him with one parent.

User you're right it's such a scary feeling mingled with a little excitement but mostly agitation. I want to fast forward the night away. Or run away. I have a huge illogical impulse to run away but I'm not going to

I'm so glad she's ok now @Moonflower12 , small is fine as long as he's well

Thanks @BruisedSkies , I'll not put too much pressure on myself but I'd love to try to breastfeed my tiny son. My mental health will probably be in pieces anyway tho so I need to be aware of that.

Thanks @ipswichwitch . A virtual hahdhold means so much at the moment.

Having a NICU baby is a very different path to be on. It’s so strange to have to ask to hold your baby, to feel like all the nurses know so much more than you do etc. it’s hard to leave them to go home at night. My child is 6 now and totally fine. But I do think back to those days still. Im not gonna be connected to internet for the weekend but I hope it all goes smoothly tomorrow.

Re breastfeeding, just try to pump. Start off hand pumping into a tiny syringe. and then work up to an electric pump after a few days. Keep trying to latch your baby but don’t worry if they can’t really suck for a while. Weeks. They’ll be so so tired and just focussing on growing and digesting. But if you can carry on pumping, then you’ll keep that milk supply up until they’re bigger and stronger and can suck.

Thank you all, I'd love to try to pump. Got maybe one hour's sleep tonight. Thank you @BruisedSkies

My twins were born at 34 weeks - NICU was fantastic about establishing breastfeeding - you can't do it straight away as babies don't develop the sucking reflex until around 37 weeks so I was given an electric pump and pumped every couple of hours - took my milk into NICU and the babies were tube fed that. When they looked like they were developing the right cues to breastfeed I had a dedicated breastfeeding consultant who helped gradually move them off tubes onto breastfeeding- one took to it right away - the littler one took a week or so longer. You have to build up to it and not place too much pressure on yourself. Took 3 weeks in NICU to get them both EBF and then we were allowed home x

I had my IUGR baby at 35 weeks and 1.5kgs too. She is now nearly 10, and while still petite, is a happy and healthy darling child, who just got a very good school report.
Our experience: a LOT of people in the delivery room, baby whisked away to NICU, and a decent NICU stay. These IUGR babies are fighters, they have to be to have gotten that far. My little one is extremely fiesty, I think it’s related.
Good luck! I wish you all the best.