# 35wks 0 days: Apgar 1, glucose IV, trouble feeding, phototherepy



## TCB

I'm a new proud Dad of a premature baby but I'm scared. I need somebody who's been there to tell me things will be okay (I've been telling my wife that but I need to hear it myself). 

My sos's cuurent state is summarized in the subject, but I'll provide more detail below:

1. My son was born at 35 weeks 0 days following 3 weeks of my wife's in hospital bed rest and iv treatment (some sort of meds to stop labor)
2. The meds were stop at 35 weeks (by that point my wife's water had slightly broke) and labor started within a few hours
3. The baby came out and he was blue and did not cry. The doctor told me it was mild asphixia (I'm in Tokyo and this is all in Japanese -- the direct translation of the medical term given to me is "light temporary death of new born infant") APGAR score at one minute was 1 and at five minutes it was 7
4. He was given oxygen to help him breath and a glucose drip (maybe some other drugs too, but things were happening so fast). The oxygen tube has been removed but he's still on the glucose drip
5. He's docent seem to have a big appetite. At first it was looking pronissing so the doctor removed the feeding tube, but after only a day he was falling asleep during feeding. Now he drinks about 18cc on his own and 12cc from the tube
6. He has tremors or shakes or spasms that look like he's cold or scared. These are accompanied by much yawning and leg and arm stretching 
7. He showed signs of jaundice so he's been under a purple lamp for 2 days 

The nurses and the doctors tell me that other babies have it worse of than mine (this docent make me happy, just sad and broken hearted for the other babies as well as my own). That said, if there's anybody here who has gone through what we are going through AND has had a happy ending (e.g, their baby is perfect now, not late in development, admitted into the gifted and talented program) I would love to here about it. 

Also, any encouraging comments related to my experience above would be greatly appreciated. But please, no horror stories. :baby:

Note: I typed this on my mobile from Hospital waiting room -- sorry for any typos.


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## ermm23a

Congrats on the birth of your son! 

My son was born at 33 weeks weighing 3 lbs 10 oz, and while I didn't see him when he came out (c-section), my husband said he was blue at first. It freaked him out but the doctors/nurses told him it was fine. I cannot remember what his apgar scores were, but I think it was an 8..... 

He had to have the Cpap machine for a day or two but was never on oxygen. He had a feeding tube the first few days as well, as he was too weak to take a bottle. Once he started a bottle though he did well, he would occasionally have to have his feedings supplemented with the tube though bc he would fall asleep during bottle feedings, I think this is a normal thing for preemies. 

Today he is a happy and healthy almost 6 month old, just a little on the small side for his age, but he is catching up every day. Try not to worry too much (I know this is easier said than done). And let your wife know that you don't blame her for him being premature. If she is anything like me, she will want to hear you say that. there's a lot of guilt that preemie moms' have about it. even though I know in my head it wasn't my fault, I still feel like I failed him in some way by not being able to carry him to term. 

good luck with your nicu journey. it will be a roller coaster of emotions.


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## Mindy_mini

I haven't been through a premmies birth myself but I have worked on a maternity unit and seen special care babies. What you are describing in terms of you baby's treatment seems fairly normal. Babies do get jaundice when early so the lamp will help them, they struggle to control their glucose levels so they often put them on drips to help and all term baby's yawn a lot, wiggle their legs and often fall asleep feeding. I don't know how much 18cc is in oz or mls so can't really comment on that.

Your little one is in the best place and I'm sure he will be just fine. 

Congratulations daddy
X


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## PleaseBaby

Congratulations on your son! My daughter was much earlier (27 weeks) so I have no direct experience otherthan what I witnessed while on NICU. Your son sounds like a 'feeder and grower' which in preemie terms is the absolute best you can hope for, everyone wants to get to that magical stage x


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## AP

I agree with pleasebaby! It may not seem like it, but your baby is doing AMAZING!!! I'm sure the experience however is leaving you both nervous and on edge. 

these tremors are absolutely normal, even term babies are like this and can be for many weeks. That's why babies like to be swaddled in blankets. You have to remember, they are in open space, no longer cramped in, so it'll take some getting used to!

Babies have very very small appetites to start with. A term babies stomach is no bigger than a marble, so a preemies will be even smaller! 

If you want a nice story, my best friends 33 weeker is a fab 2 year old now and being pushed to the higher room in nursery cause she's too advanced :haha:

Stay strong, you'll be outta there soon! :hugs: but we are here to help so feel free to stick around!!!! Xxx


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## lozzy21

Hi, My daughter was born at 35+4 and her apgars were slightly better but nearly everything else was the same.

The jaundice which is really common in premies and if treated leves no long term problems, it will be making baby sleepy which will be affecting his feeding. You will probably find that once his jaundice clears up his feeding will improve a lot.

A lot of babys are born blue, my LO was blue for a good few hours and not crying is perfectly normal, i blame the movies for people thinking that all babys cry when there born.

The tremors are also perfectly normal and will go as he gets older, Again my LO had them.

Everything that you have said is normal for a 35 week baby and doesnt mean your LO will have any long lasting problems. You might find your LO is behind in development at first but by the time they are 1 they wont be much differance between your LO and a baby the same age born at term.

My lo is now 10 months old, walking round furniture, shouting daddy and hiya all the time and loves getting into mischief.


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## pinkycat

Congrats on your new baby. Your LO sounds pretty normal for a 35weeker to me.

My eldest Ellie was born at 35+2 due to severe pre eclampsia. Her apgar was 1, 3 and a third was taken at 10 mins but i forget what it was. She was sleepy and twitchy and very slow to feed (i attempted BF but she was so sleepy i expressed and she was fed by bottle and tube) she also had phototherapy for jaundice. She was in hospital for just over a week and is now a totally perfect 6.5yr old

best wishes to you and your wife and your LO xx


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## inperfected

The tremors are completely normal, I belie they're called essential tremors :) 

The rest is normal too, all what a normal slightly early baby will do :) hope you can find the strength to get thru it until you get home :) I'm betting it won't be long.


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## TCB

Thank you, everybody. You're encouragement and reassurances help. It means so much to hear your stories. I'm still scared -- I can't help but be scared when I see my little guy under that lamp shaking with tubes and wires everywhere -- but I feel a little better now. 

I can't wait until he's home where he belongs. I just wish he would eat, eat, eat. He was doing so well there for the first bit.


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## Mrs_X

i was born at 39 weeks so i wasent a preemie however i was born blue with a very low apgar and put into NICU. i too was attached to a glucose drip, but i got better and im now 23, healthy and carrying a baby of my own :)


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## TCB

Thanks. The best stories are the long term success stories. There was also a picture that a mother posted in the very important premie thread two premie daughters who are both now beautiful, very intelligent looking, adults.

It would be nice, maybe to have a long term thread like that -- one that tells stories of premmies who have grown up and went on to be normal (and even above normal) adults.


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## Agiboma

congrats on your LO it sounds like he is doing great. Dont worry the feeding will come along, sometimes they do great with feeeding then they get tierd so its hard to keep up but as he gets stronger he will begin to feed as he should and go home where he belongs.


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## lozzy21

If he was doing well to start with it will just be the Jaundice which will be gone in no time.

These pictures were taken two days apart, she went from being in speial care under a lamp on a iv and two days later was home.
https://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad148/lozzy22minx/SAM_0900.jpg
https://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad148/lozzy22minx/SAM_0974.jpg

Once the jaundice clears up you will find his improvement will come one in leaps and bounds


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## AP

TCB, I have a 27 weeker but I am in fact a 29 weeker myself. I have no issues at all! (well some of the girls might say I'm a bit mad :rofl:) and that was In 1986 in a hospital not exactly equipped for preemies! My mum did a lot of things the nurses are meant to do, bloods etc.... My Dad often gets sentimental when drunk and tells me how I weighed less than a bag of sugar and had jaundice too!


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## TCB

I'm so glad that I posted. You guys are great! Your stories have helped tremendously.


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## TCB

I'm in the hospital and the doctor just told us that they will hive my baby boy an MRI to look for brain damage. At first the doctor thought that an MRI wouldn't be need but now she has changed her mind because my baby doesn't show enough interest in eating. 

He was born at 35 weeks. His gestational age as of today is 36 weeks and 1 day. He only sucks for a few minutes then he falls asleep and let's the nipple just sit in his mouth. Once you take the nipple out he will refuse to let you put it back in. 

Again his apgar was 1 and 7. His blood sugar was low. They just took him off of phototherepy (the purple uv light) today. 

Could he really have brain damage? Right now I'm angry at everyone in the world except my wife and our baby.


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## lozzy21

How much did he weight? Feeding is tiring work for small babys but the fact he is trying is a good thing, if he wasn't even attempting then there would be something to worry about but he is trying. The doctor sounds like they are just being on the safe side.


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## pinkycat

Im sure it's just to rule things out, Ellie made very little effort to feed till around the 37week and the midwife's all said this was normal. she also didnt wake for feeding (i set an alarm in the night to feed her) like i said she is 6.5yrs and right where she should be for her age (definately no brain damage)


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## TCB

Thanks for the quick replies. Our boy was actually pretty big for 35 weeks -- he was 2660 grams. His weight has gone done a bit since then but I guess that's normal. 

I really hope that they are just being extra cautious, but when I put everything together it seems to add up to something bad. I'm not the most positive thinking person -- thinking negatively is sorta my survival mechanism. But in this case, I'm really trying to avoid bad thoughts. 

Just eat little guy!!!


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## Crunchie

Hi 

my lo was born at 34+6 and refused to take the nipple....if she did she would suck and then fall asleep - so we used premie teats on bottles and I was able to express my milk

also we spent time in scbu due to blood sugars.....after a day or so she managed to regulate 

xxxxx


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## TCB

By the way, did anyone here ever get an MRI only to find out that their baby was A-OK -- no problems whatsoever? That would be great to hear too, right now.


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## TCB

I'll ask about premie teat nipples. Thanks.


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## 25weeker

My lo was born at 25 weeks. Her agpar scores were 1, 4 & 7. She had no heart beat so was resuscitated. Her birth notes in her discharge summary Is awful to read! She also had a grade IV ivh. Despite all this she is walking, talking and meeting all her milestones for being 17 months corrected.

I hope everything goes well with your lo.


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## lozzy21

Niamh was given an ultrasound to check for a possible bleed but there was nothing.


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## momof2babies

my daughter was born at 27+1 at 3lb 4oz with an apgar score of 2 then 7 she is now all caught up on everything except weight


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## TCB

We just got done with feeding. He's not getting better. He sleeps. He contorts his face and body. I'm in pieces about this. I think that he may have been hurt -- it's looking a lot like CP.


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## Agiboma

to be honest most babies get tierd easily when trying to feed and some are simply not interested in eating, i think your LO is fine and in time he will show more interest


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## Agiboma

TCB said:


> We just got done with feeding. He's not getting better. He sleeps. He contorts his face and body. I'm in pieces about this. I think that he may have been hurt -- it's looking a lot like CP.

the contortion of the face may be a sign of reflux, my son had reflux and we went home on medication


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## TCB

Thank you for posting and saying that you think he'll be fine.


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## MummyMEE

Hi TCB, congratulations on the birth of your little one! My son was born 14 years ago at 32 weeks weighing 2440g (5lb 6oz) and was kept in SCBU for 4 weeks, he did not feed until he was 4 weeks old and once he did they let us go home. When he was born they thought his intestine wasn't properly formed but it was fine, he had severe jaundice to the point they were considering doing a full blood transfusion to get rid of it but after 2 weeks phototherapy treatment it started to clear up on its own. He wasn't the healthiest baby in there but by no means was he the worst!
Fast forward 14 years my son is now a healthy and happy year 9 who excels at science and history and amazes me every day with his insight, compassion and intellect 
Keep your chin up, I know how hard it can be in SCBU as there is so much worry and stress during this time but you will get to take your baby home soon!
xx


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## TCB

Thank you.


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## ermm23a

Keep us posted on your baby's progress.


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## TCB

I thought I'd let you know that we got the MRI results back and the doctor says that there seems to be no major issues. I hesitate to say this out of respect for my baby, but the doctor did say that she noticed some small white spots on the MRI that could have been caused by lack of oxygen at birth -- but these spots are probably nothing to stress over, and many people have simmilar spots. That said, the doctor wants to check on the baby ocasaionaly over the next year to be sure. So, all and all, the tests came back clean and we were relived. 

But he STILL won't eat!!! Tomorrow he will be 37 weeks gestational age and he will only eat about 20-35cc per feeding (some of that is BF some of it from a bottle). He sleeps as soon as he gets a taste of milk. And he sleeps a lot in general. It is driving me crazy. And all I can think about is "maybe the MRI isn't showing the whole picture" or "maybe those tiny white spots are in the most crucial places"!

One of the nurses -- who looks like she's been around the block a few times -- tells me that I need to be patient and my boy will be feeding properly soon. I'm trying but I HATE THIS.


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## inperfected

Just be patient... Remember your baby is full term in 3 weeks, not now. It's really hard, but it's a good thing to remember. My baby went home at 28 weeks, and that last week was HARD with him doing ok, then refusing to wake for the feed AT ALL. Having that much each feeding is awesome. They defintely tend to wake up after full term age in most cases :)


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## MummyMEE

Little boys are notoriously lazy! My son only started feeding when he was 5 weeks old (would have been 37 wks gestation) and after a couple of no problems feeding we were allowed home. Remember, whilst they are sleeping they are growing and getting stronger! x


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