How will she do if delivered at 34 - 35 weeks?

[fairibell]

After loosing our little girl last year at 26 weeks, due to severe rapid-onset pre-eclampsia - I am now 34 +6 weeks with signs of the pre-eclampsia returning very soon - my consultant thinks I will be delivering within the next week. scan showing her about 4lb 11 (was about 4lb5 two weeks ago, so gorwth slowing down).

So any advice would be appreciated - my consultant said once 2 kilos and 35 weeks dont automatically go to SCBU, but obviously will if a problem - oh and had steriods at 26 weeks (apparently now only give them once!?)

So did you little one go to SCBU? when did they come home? any problems? anything really!

thanks so so much

Sarah

I can't really extend on the great advice/stories already shared, except to add my own experience.

Dd was born by crash c section at exactly 37 weeks due to PE.

She had IUGR due to placental failure & was 4lb 4. She scroed 9 on both apgar tests.

She spent 48 hours in SCBU, during which time they kept me sedated in the hope to lower my BP. She was ready to go home before I was!

I wish you all the luck in the world & hope this goes very well for you all.

Let us know how you go!

She was born at 36 weeks, NOT 37!

My son was born at 35 weeks, due to pre-eclampsia. He spent the 1st 12 hours with me, then was taken to SCBU because his breathing became shallow. He spent a week in SCBU, firstly on oxygen, tube feeds, a drip & in an incubator. As the days went on though, he needed less & less help, and we got to go home.

Wishing you all the best xx

My son was born at 35 weeks, due to pre-eclampsia. He spent the 1st 12 hours with me, then was taken to SCBU because his breathing became shallow. He spent a week in SCBU, firstly on oxygen, tube feeds, a drip & in an incubator. As the days went on though, he needed less & less help, and we got to go home.

Wishing you all the best xx

oops sorry for teh double post!

wanted to add, he was 5lb 10oz at birth, and had expressed milk in his tube then i managed to BF after that

No personal experience but once you are beyond 32 weeks your LO has an excellent chance of needing little or no intervention and growing up fine and healthy. So try not to worry too much and best of luck.

Just read the OP

Sorry to hear about you losing your little girl.

I had pre-eclampsia with ds1....it started around 34 weeks and I was admitted to hospital at 36 weeks and was induced at 37 weeks. He was born well at 37 ish weeks 7lbs 10oz.

He had to go into SCBU at 3 days old - but entirely unrelated to being born a little early or to pre-eclampsia.

Hope all goes well for you.

My DD was born at 31 weeks and weighed 3lbs 6 oz. She is now 16 and gifted! Good luck

I had dd2 at 34 weeks. She weighed 4lbs 14oz and went straight to scbu where she spent the night in an incubator.

The next day she was moved to a normal plastic cot. She had those sticky pads on her chest, attatched to a machine to monitor heart rate etc and she was on a heat pad for a little bit as she was a bit cold. She also had a feeding tube in her nose.

She could have come home alot sooner than she did, as she had no major problems, but she was very slow to feed and lost alot of weight and so stayed in for 2 weeks in total.

Once home she put on weight very quickly and was a very chunky baby, alot bigger than her brother and sister born at 38 and 37 weeks.

She is now a very bright, funny and confident 8yr old.

Good luck xxx

DD was born at 32weeks, 5lb 1.5oz, she would've been fne if it wasn't for a pneumothorax, but because of that she ahd to stay in for about a month, no other issues.
She is seven now and fine.

Sarah thinking about you at such a difficult time. hope i can reassure you.i had IUGR (intra uterine growth reduction) which is symptomatic with PE. i had severe PE and baby delivered early by emergency CS weighed 4lbs and no scbu, because despite being tiny, was a healthy wee baby. lots of tests and close monitoring in hospital, and was under heat lamps BUT Home after 5days. close follow upin community but baby was ok

funnily enough it was the reactions of other people to a tiny baby that was surprising eg strangers saying OMG should LO be out, or just plain ole intrigue

tbh we were just so happy to have lo we just got on with it as you do. a small baby is still a hardy wee thing

be aware at baby clinic the HV was really preoccupied by the red book weight/ht charts and habitually used to go on and on "oh LO below the normal range...blah blah. i just thought well doh what do you expect with a LBW so dont worry about red book chart graphs etc, what matters is wt gain and healthy baby

you can buy tiny baby sizes eg JLewis, boots, Mothercare and Size 0 prem nappies tesco online, mothercare, Sainsburys

but good luck

Hi
First time on here and found someone with a question I can sort of help with. My son was born at 34 weeks due to my pre-eclampsia. I went in to the day clinic with a headache and came out 2 weeks later with a baby in SCBU! Lewis was born and weighed 4lb 14oz, he was ok for about 10 minutes and then started having probs with breathing. They sorted him out with tubes etc and took him off to SCBU. I had to stay behind and get fixed as my blood pressure hadn't come down. 1 hour later I had the news that Lewis would have to be moved to another hospital with a neo natal unit but I couldn't go. For the first week of our baby boy's life he didn't see his mummy as I was still too ill to go anywhere and had to stay on the maternity unit for 2 weeks in total. The day they brought him back to our local hospital, I cried so hard as it was the first time I held him. He then went from strength to strength and so did I. I think being together did us both the world of good. We brought Lewis home 3 weeks after his birth and he is a very healthy, tall little boy. He is 13 months now and no one ever guesses he was prem!

I can understand your worry, but at the end of it all, your baby will be looked after by professionals and will get the treatment he/she needs to have the best start in life however early he/she arrives. I know it's hard but stay strong, especially for your baby. Fingers crossed you go full-term with the help of few blood pressure tablets here and there!

both of my boys were early - 34 and 36 weeks (emergency section)- had my steroid injections with ds 2 at 30 weeks as didn't predict i would last much past this. Both were healthy and good weights (5lb 11 and 6Lb 1), 2 weeks in SCBU for ds1, ds2 nursed on normal ward. ds1 is now 9 and ds2 nearly 4. you are at a good stage now - all will be fine I'm sure - GOOD LUCK!

DTs were born at 35 weeks, 4lb15 and 5lb04, neither went into SCBU but both had jaundice and we stayed in for 2 weeks due to poor sucking reflex an being tube fed.

Hope all goes well for you x

DD born at 35 weeks (spontaneous and quick labour). Good birth weight (7lb) and no major problems but had 2 days in SCBU (jaundice plus needed red cells removing from blood as too concentrated plus given precautionary ABs because I had a urinary infection) and 2 more days on normal ward with me (waiting for jaundice levels to drop sufficiently) before we went home. Had some problems establishing BF because of jaundice, but got there with a little help and a visit to the cranial osteopath.

Hope all is well for you and your LO.

dd1 born at 35+3 days, weighed 2 kilos exactly, so small for dates and premmie, she wasn't in scbu, but we did stay in for 2 weeks to establish feeding ( in lovely private hospital ) she stayed tiny in size until about 4 yrs old when she suddnely normalised and now is miss average , good luck

fairibell, my DD was born at 35 weeks and 3.5kg so more than a good weight. No need for SCBU and her Apgar or whatever score was 9 I think. I knew she was going to be big so had no concerns on that score but it was scary. All was absolutely fine though. She is now 19mo and entirely fine and has caught up.

Problems were only excessive sleepiness and jaundice which made feeding a problem at first but to be honest I can't stop her now.

I had pre eclampsia from 32 weeks, but spent the next 7 weeks in hospital and wasn't induced until 38 weeks when blood pressure really kicked off and started getting protein in urine. He was 6lb 7oz and fine. DD was born at 37 weeks and was the same weight

My waters broke when I was 35 weeks my son was born the next day. He was 5 pounds 2.7 ounces. He had initial problems breathing but needed no intervention in the elevator down to the NICU he started breathing by himself.

He did had jaundice and spent two days in the NICU under the lamps. He had bad bruising on his head and his little body had a hard time dealing with it.

He initially dropped weight to 4'11 but because he was small he just wanted to sleep. We would have to remind him to eat every two hours.

He is now 4 he has a pediatric feeding disorder and does suffer from SPD. Some of his doctors and therapists do put it down to his early delivery.

Sorry about the loss of your first.

Good luck and all the best. Normally babies born at 35 do do well. Fingers crossed you'll do fine!

my dd was born at 35+5, don't know why she was early, and weighed 6.7

she was physically fine, but had problems feeding and jaundice

didn't go to SCBU

she's 6 now and amazing in every way

all the very best to you, please let us know how you get on xx

HI, so sorry to hear about your DD. My DD2 was born at 35+3, 5lb 6oz, and apart from Jaundice which developed on day 3, and therefore SCBU for light therapy, she was absolutely fine.

She stayed with me on a biliblanket for 5 days, then we were discharged, but I readmitted her because she turned orange the next day. She needed triple light therapy, but did not get any other symptoms of the Jaundice, such as feeding problems. She is 10 months now, and a strapping 20lbs. Still breastfeeding like crazy!!