Preparing for a premature baby

[Upwind]

It seems I will probably be induced/sectioned this week or next due to IUGR and olighydramnios. I will be 32 or 33 weeks, but obviously my baby's weight won't reflect that.

Is there any thing I should be preparing now to make it easier to care for my tiny baby? Any resources I should access or products I should invest in (e.g. sling, electric breast pump)?

Not assuming you're having a boy, sorry , just I had a him.

I was thinking about this last night in bed - and you should also get some good moisturiser, my LO was in for just under a month (born at 32 weeks) and using the alcohol hand wash every time I went through doors / touched the baby / other babies whose mums I had made friends with etc. - my hands were really cracked and bleeding after a fortnight!

And like someone else said - a good book! Helpful for when you have to wait outside the ward (during rounds or staff changeovers). Or just when the baby has to stay in the incubator.

you can hire the electric b/pumps from the likes of boots (that's were I hired mine but it was 6 years ago) scbu units sometimes have them to borrow/hire as well, might be worth asking about first? hand cream that hand wash can really dry your hands out. its worth talking to someone on the unit your baby will be on what they recommend you need, some hospitals supply nappies and others don't.

My DS was born at 31w5d and was in clothes straight away. Like one of the other OPs he didn't have any breathing problems without steroids.

What I found useful:
-Mothercare tiny baby sets (£20) for clothes, very soft

• a mini washbag and cardi for me
• lots of ready meals
• a cool bag for taking EBM to the hospital
• a DS and a book
• Neutrogena hand concentrate moisturiser
• preemie nappies (Mothercare again)

Thinking of you today Upwind, hope the scan/ctg etc goes well.

Thank you all so much for your advice and support! It is greatly appreciated and has been very helpful. Yesterday went better than we could have hoped - fluid levels are back within normal limits, doppler, trace etc looked good. So I will have all tests again on Tuesday and decisions will be postponed until then.

Those of you who had IUGR babies, do you have any idea what caused it? I don't have any symptoms of pre-eclampsia so they are now testing me for gestational diabetes in case that is what has stopped my baby from growing.

So glad everything went well yesterday, it's all a bit of a rollercoaster isn't it? Do they know what size bubbs is now? There's any number of things that can cause it, for me it was pre-eclampsia. Have they tested your blood for that clotting problem (I can't remember the name of it)?

I didn't have any symptoms of pre-e at the start. No high bp or protein in urine when they picked up ds wasn't growing and the doctors were a bit puzzled. They eventually worked out my bp was below hypertension but high for me, as IUGR can sometimes be the first indication that you will develop pre-e later. My bp didn't rise to hypertension levels until a few weeks after that initial growth scan and I then started to get signs of pre-e and was hospitalised and put on meds. Not trying to worry you, just to make you aware that it can happen.

Upwind- that's fantastic news. Your story sounds a bit like mine when I was pregnant with DD. I'd had pre-clampsia & HELLP syndrome with DS so they were monitoring my second pregnancy closely and at 27 weeks found that my LO hadn't grown in 2 weeks and was dropping off the centiles- plus my fluid reading were too low. Like you at that time I had no symptoms of PE (although when I had PE with DS is developed incredibly quickly so I know this is always possible). I was given antenatal steroids in preparation as they assumed we were going down the same path I'd experienced with DS (which was heartbreaking)- but at the next scan my fluid levels had improved and DD had begun to grow better- dopplers etc. all fine. So with close monitoring we carried on- at 35wks my BP finally started a determined upward trend and I was admitted, and DD was delivered at 36wks- so sometimes I do wonder if the blip they detected earlier in pregnancy was a warning PE would affect us at some point but I also think it was just a blip and that's all.

It is great you have got past 32 weeks, in development terms this is a great stage as lungs are usually mature and most baby's learn to feed quickly. DS was in NICU & SCBU for 8 wks after being born at 30wks but he still did very well and at 3.5yrs old no one would guess his start in life. DD spent one week in SCBU as she was "grunty" (struggling for breath) upon delivery so just needed some extra oxygen for first couple of days.

Know too well how worrying it is, especially all the uncertainty, but really hope you get a few more weeks yet with LO inside! Good luck x

Thanks Trixie - rollercoaster is the word! It is as well to be aware that it might still be pre-eclampsia, I suppose they would pick up on it quickly with all the monitoring I am having... They've not told me what they estimate that my baby currently weighs - I think the worry is not so much the absolute size but the absence of any growth since my last growth scan.

Definately all the extra monitoring is a good thing and I would say they would pick up anything quickly. Make sure you tell them of any changes though (like I didn't). Contact your maternity hospital if you start getting frontal headaches or visual disturbances. I'd put mine down to a sinus infection only to have a very stern telling off from a midwife for not making them aware of it. I'd also kept thinking "great I'm putting on loads of weight, the baby must be growing", not realising I was starting to retain fuid because of pre-e.

Ds had very slow growth after 27 wks before he stopped at 31/2. The reason they decided to take him out at 34 was absent doppler. I was talking to another woman in SCBU whose dd had the same thing and they kept her baby in, even though it wasn't growing, because her doppler and traces were ok.

Very best of luck for Tuesday.x

Good Luck, Upwind. I hope you get nearer term. I had a similar experience to you at 31w (very low fluid, suspicious heart rate traces but no iugr) and the consultant was prepared to deliver.

As it was, with daily monitoring and a few hospital stays, I got to 38w before they did a CS (after failed induction) and DS was a whopper. We're still not really sure what caused it.

So glad everything went ok yesterday Upwind.

For me the first sign anything was 'wrong' was the lack of growth in DS and low fluid (in fact non-existant). It wasn't until 3 days before DS was born (and 2.5 weeks after the first scan) that my blood pressure rose to a high level and I was admitted to hospital. I never had any other signs of PE. The day DS was born I went to the clinic for the doppler scan at about 3.30, the consultant didn't tell me anything about it, but just asked me when the last time I ate was and then that DS would need to be delivered asap and he was born by CS at 7.40pm that night weighing 2lbs 10oz. Not that you'd know it now!

Good luck for Tuesday. Will be thinking of you.

I meant to say that earlier as well. Be prepared for a quick delivery if they find anything wrong. I went to my scan at 11am, in theater having a cs for 2pm. I was totally in shock that things moved so quickly.

Hey all, thanks again for sharing your experiences! Yesterday went really well, liquor levels have stayed up within normal limits; the doppler trace and all other test results were good. They did say though that even if this is still the case on Monday they will do another growth scan and if there has been little or no growth (or even negative abdominal growth) the baby will be best off coming out because of the IUGR. From the last growth scan my baby is just below the 10th percentile and estimated to weigh about 3.5 lbs, so not as tiny as some of your IUGR babies were but still probably in need of extra care.

The rollercoaster continues though - today my community midwife found that my blood pressure was raised, not massively but enough to cause concern though there was no protein in my sample. Assuming no other symptoms develop this evening, I will be checked again at the hospital in the morning and she suggested I might need to have everything ready in case they keep me in.

This is an Irish site, but could answer a lot of questions

www.prematurebaby.ie

Coming to this thread late as although I didn't have a premature baby I did have an IUGR baby who managed to get to 37 weeks despite growth issues from at least 22 weeks (was on 3rd centile at 22 weeks).

As others have said, mine was probably pre-eclampsia although I didn't show any signs of it until growth stopped completely and then my bp went up and I had protein in unrine. This was at 37 weeks despite hte growth issues being present from 22 weeks.

DD was 4 lbs 9 oz at 37 weeks.

Good luck. Sounds like they are monitoring you well.

It is really interesting that so many of you with IUGR wound up developing pre-eclampsia at a later stage. It explains why I am having so much monitoring.

I can't help hoping that another Christmas miracle would happen and as well as the fluid levels staying up, that Monday's scan would show that my baby has actually grown significantly despite not growing at all for so long. I guess that is unlikely and instead I can hope to have my baby in my arms and doing well

My blood pressure reading today was 137/96, yesterday's was 130/78, which was consistent with previous readings. It seems that the diastolic pressure over 90, or 15 higher than usual, MAY be indicative of PE...

Yes, it was my diastolic pressure they watched like a hawk - and had to be below 90.

Having said that, I went to my MW last week (I am almost 28 weeks with number 2) and she took my BP on an electronic machine and it measured something over 93. She was pretty calm about it and said, I'll just try it with the manual one. and it was something over 65 . I asked what the difference was and she said most medical people don't think much of the electronic ones as they don't give a decent reading.

Thanks again to everyone who has responded to this thread!

Wheelybug, my midwife took two electronic readings and then recorded a manual one - the 137/96, it was almost the same as the previous two. It did not seem to take any longer to do it manually so have no idea why they use the electronic ones if they are not reliable.

Hi there, was wondering how you were doing. Glad to hear your lo is still cooking - you're now 34 weeks?

Hi there Upwind

I had been wondering how you were doing. So pleased to hear you and lo doing well.

How many weeks are you now? Nearly 34? That's a great gestation.

Hope the scan goes well on Monday.

34 weeks today

Hi Upwind, Just come over fromt he thread I started.
How are you doing?
When are your next checks?
I have a little bit of reassurance reading through this, that if they were more concerened at my 32wk growth scan, they would have booked me in for one sooner than a 36wek scan?

Its interesting about the Bp in people though.
I have always had very low BP usually about 90/60 - but at my 32week check it was 126/76
Not high in normality - But for me it is?

Im booked in for my 34wk check at the Doctors on 29th Dec. So I might mention it, if its still quite alot higher.

KT I was checked again today and my blood pressure was back to normal so it looks like I can stay away from the hospital until Monday No harm in having it checked often I suppose, but any increases might just be a blip!

Can't wait for Monday's growth scan, have been sizing up my bump, trying to figure out if there has been any change and almost convincing myself there has.

Just to update anyone who is interested - we had the best news at yesterday's growth scan. Amniotic fluid levels are still back up within normal limits and amazingly, our baby seems to have started growing again and moving along that bottom line on the growth chart.

We were told that this just does not happen. Babies don't have "static growth" for five weeks and then start growing again, so they think that the first two growth scans I had, showing the baby on the top line of the chart may have been wrong Anyway, the outcome is that my baby is still inside me, I will have a scan next monday to check the fluid levels and yet another growth scan in two weeks' time.

I am a bit bewildered by all this, but glad. There is a gnawing feeling at the back of my mind that my baby is still very small for dates and probably did cross all the lines on the chart in a way that suggests it has not been growing well. I guess there is nothing now that can take that anxiety away. I am being monitored closely and scanned regularly so any urgent problems should be picked up

Thank you all again for saving my sanity, I hope this thread is useful for anyone who is going through similar in the future!