# New here with 34 week twins



## nursejackson

Hi my name is Lindsey and I just recently delivered fraternal boy and girl twins at 34 weeks and 1 day on March 6th. They are currently in the NICU and I am getting so frustrated because Saturday it will be 2 weeks since they've been born and no signs of them coming home soon. Tonight I drove home crying the whole way. I just want my babies home! 

Here's my story, at 33 weeks and 4 days I had gone to work and was having what I thought was braxton hicks but they were occurring all morning and wouldn't let up so at lunch I asked to go home and since I worked down the road from my OB i went and visited. They checked me and I was dilated to a 3-4 and sent me to the hospital right away. Started me on magnesium sulfate which totally sucked. Was on it for 2 and a half days to stop labor until I got all my steroid injections which I did. By saturday the contractions were back and the babies were not allowing me to dilate so the dr decided to do a c-section and by then I was relieved because the pain and exhaustion was horrifying! But now I regret it because my babies aren't home with me and my husband and 5 year old daughter.

They were both intubated so that was hard seeing tubes down their throats. Naomi is our girl and Noah is our boy. They both ended up with PDA (patent ductus arteriosis) which kept them on the vent while they received the medicine to help close it. Naomi's closed pretty quickly and after about 4 days on the vent she was extubated. Now after almost 2 weeks Naomi is off all oxygen support and is just having to get bottle feeding down. She is currently getting 2 bottles a day of 41 ml's of breast milk. She ahs to take 8 bottles a day before coming home and she has to eat a whole bottle before they up her anymore bottles a day. She's only up to 28 ml's. Tonight was a setback I feel because she had over half of last feeding left in her stomach. I just would like to know when she might come home. 1, 2, or 3 weeks? No clue, no one tells us except expect them home around your due date, well that's not acceptable to me when my due date was April 17th!

Noah is on a CPAP machine and seems to be doing well but they haven't changed any of his settings in the past 2 days and not doing anymore blood draws right now so when are they going to change that? He's on 21 ml's of breast milk per tube down his throat. Once he's off the oxygen support he can start bottle feeds. I just would love to know when my babies might be home. I know it's not possible to know but this waiting is really frustrating. I only have 12 weeks off from work and I feel this is cutting into my maternity leave and by the time they are home I will have to go back to work. Then travelling 20 minutes one way to the hospital to visit as much as I can, having a 5 year old daughter that can't go into the NICU at all so giving her the attention she needs has been hard, having a house that needs to be picked up and a nursery to work on that is not even close to being done has been so exhausting! I'm looking for some support from other parents that have gone or experiencing what I am. I'm getting tired of talking to people that have no clue what I'm going through. Thanks for letting me vent, I feel much better!


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## grumpymoo

hello Lindsey!

Congratulations on the births of Naomi and Noah, what lovely names.

I am so sorry to hear that you are having such a tough time and it must be so frustrating and upsetting that your babies are not progressing as fast as you would like. They will get there you know and before you know it this part of your lives will be a distant memory.

I cant offer any advice an specifics but want to say good luck to you all and big hugs


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## Laura2919

Hiya. Firstly Congratulations on your twins. They are hard work but its sooo sooo rewarding!! 

I had Chloe and Jaycee at 29 weeks and 6 days and they spent 4 weeks in NNU. I think it really depends on the baby and how they deal with being born that early rather than a set timescale. 

I dont have any experience with having an older child and the girls were my first but I am sure it will work itself out. 

I dont know how the US work on maternity leave but I got an extra two weeks off because I asked for it from my employer xx


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## TwoBumps

Hi Lindsey, congratulations on the birth of your twins :happydance:

I completely understand your frustration as my twins were born at 31 + 3 and spent 8 weeks in SCBU. I too was only told to expect them home by their due date and as frustrating as this was it did turn out to be a fairly accurate estimate! It sounds like Naomi & Noah are doing great and trust me they will get there, it just takes some time for them to get stronger & learn how to suckle etc. One day they will suddenly turn the corner and come on in leaps and bounds and you will have them home before you know it!!


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## nursejackson

Thank you all! I'm glad I've found this place, last night was just a rough night seeing them and went home frustrated and stressed. It seems like it depends on what nurse is taking care of them at the time I visit and how I feel as I leave. I'm going for the 2 and 3 feedings today and I'm hoping for better news. My husband already went and said the nurse was very nice. 

I look forward to meeting some of you that have experience with twins and premature babies. There is a lot I could learn from all of you.


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## _Vicky_

Hi ya 

Not quite the same as my boys werent technically premies at 37+4 but Fynn was in NICU for 3.5 weeks and I totally know how you feel - my boy had feeding difficulties as he had NEC and one day he did fab to have a set back the next. Its a hellish roller coaster and although I dont have any other children Fynn's twin Sam came home with me after two days so having to divide my time between them was awful.

Hang on in there - it will sooo quickly become a distant memory xxxxxxxxxxx


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## nursejackson

Thank you Vicki your story does help. I've been reading all the introductions and it helps a lot to read other stories. It does feel like a roller coster ride. 

Probably a silly question but how do you post pictures? I have photobucket and have used those links to post pictures on other message boards is that the same here?


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## malpal

Hello hun, 
Sorry for gatecrashing the preemie section but just wanted to send you some hugs! I am nearly 32 weeks with twin girls and keeping everything crossed that i can plod on fro a bit. I also have a 14 month old little girl so i can totally understand how you feel about your daughter. I really hope that they will be home soon. 
Take care xxxxxxxxxxxx


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## AP

:wave: Hi there nursejackson!

Congratulations on your twins!!! We're quite close knit in this lil bit of the forum - keep in touch and let us know how they are doing!

xxxxx


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## nursejackson

Thank you both, can't wait to get to know all of you!


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## Foogirl

Congratulations! And welcome to our little club.

Abby was born at 29 weeks and spent 6 weeks in hopsital. We were told to expet her home by her due date and anything earlier would be a bonus. After about a week we learned to stop asking! You are so right that everything seemed to depend on who was looking after her on any given day. It was really frustrating.

I also get where you are coming from with the maternity leave. I felt the same way and I have the whole year off! It must be awful to have such a short time of leave. Is there anything else you can take to extend it? Vacation time or something? Here in the UK we are also entitled to unpaid parental leave in the first 5 years of the childs life. Or maybe they will give you some kind of compassionate leave? It can't hurt to ask.

Keep us up to date with how they (and you) are doing.:hugs:


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## twindad10

hi all,

nice to be here. my wife delivered twins(boy and girl) at 34 weeks by C-Sectn because of IUGR in twin 2 (boy). their birth wt were girl -2300kg and boy 1100. Girl spent 1 day in NICU and came to us. We are worried that our boy is not doing well. He has got abdominal distension and not passed meconium yet and today is 3rd day after birth. Today doctors said that after keeping glycerin in the back meconium came little and form the nasogastric tube green color fluid is coming out like that. Dont know where we are standing regarding our boy's condition. 

there is another imp thing to mention is there was mild echogenic bowel in twin2 in usg during obstetric scans.

Somebody please advise us. Please it will be helpful!


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## Bec L

Hi
Congratulations on the birth of your twins. I don't have experience of twins, but Poppy was 6 weeks prem and spent 2 weeks in SCBU (felt like the longest two weeks of our lives). I know exactly how you feel about leaving hospital and being so upset, but also agree that it could be so dependent on the nurses who are looking after the LOs on the day. I found some of them to be very unsympathetic about the fact I desperately wanted to breastfeed and I got mixed messages from different staff.

I really hope your twins are soon home with you, and that they continue to get stronger every day xx


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## bumpsmum

congrats on you 2 bundles seen there pics in VIP just gorgeous hun xx


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## bumpsmum

twindad10 said:


> hi all,
> 
> nice to be here. my wife delivered twins(boy and girl) at 34 weeks by C-Sectn because of IUGR in twin 2 (boy). their birth wt were girl -2300kg and boy 1100. Girl spent 1 day in NICU and came to us. We are worried that our boy is not doing well. He has got abdominal distension and not passed meconium yet and today is 3rd day after birth. Today doctors said that after keeping glycerin in the back meconium came little and form the nasogastric tube green color fluid is coming out like that. Dont know where we are standing regarding our boy's condition.
> 
> there is another imp thing to mention is there was mild echogenic bowel in twin2 in usg during obstetric scans.
> 
> Somebody please advise us. Please it will be helpful!

congrats on your twins and glad your daughter has done so well and home already. I have noexperience of your sons condition but wanted to share my support and positive vibes,he is in the best hands xxx


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## nursejackson

Thank you all and Twin dad I want to send my support and prayers with your new bundles! My twins didn't have experience with the bowels but I want you to know I'm thinking of your twins.

Update: Noah was lowered to 1L low flow yesterday tried a bottle and drank 5 ml's of the 40. They upped him to 45 mls last night and took out his PICC line (stopped all IV fluids). We are hoping to wean him completely off the nasal canula today.

Naomi completed her whole bottle last night YAh! I was so excited! So maybe they will increase the amount of bottles she is taking per day. She is up to 44 ml's of milk. So I'm hoping not much longer til their home!


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## AP

:happydance: They sound like they are coming along great!


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## twindad10

Thanks bumpsmum and nursejackson for your prayers! Had been to NICU to check the boy, condition is the same with not worsening abdominal distension and not yet started Oral feeding and meconium is passing after keeping suppositories.

Doctors reassured that there is no other prob other than the gut one,so if it becomes allright evything will be fine but it may tak time they said. Hoping for the best..

Thanks all of for your prayers and advises!


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## twindad10

hi nursejackson, very nice to hear that ur babies are doing well! just wanted to ask you what was your babies birth wt??


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