27 weeks pregnant - baby will be delivered anytime

[xxClaire_24xx]

hi girls, just looking for a bit of advice, i am 27 weeks pregnant and getting weekly growth scans and doppler to check on the babys growth as we found out at the 20 week scan she is very small and there was very little fluid in there and there could have been a few reasons why but we had many test done and they came back clear so they think that the placenta hasnt been working propery

so I was just wondering if anyone else has had similar pregnancys,

if anyone has had a baby so early and just what to expect at the delivery after the baby is born and what life is like looking after a baby who was born so small and early

thanks xx

 

[AP]

Hi there.

My baby was born at 27+4, not for the same reason (she was just impatient)
I didnt need a c section.
When she was born, they took her in a plastic bag and ran off with her. Sounds rotten, but I knew it was best so I was calm about it.

They put her on a ventilator in an incubator - this can be for either a few hours or for days. It can be frightening to see, if you havent seen anything like it before, but rest assured the wires and machines you will see in neonatal are actually doing basic tasks.

After this she was given a lil oxygen mask until she learnt how to breathe herself a lil better. Once they have more control over breathing and such, the focus is then to maintain babys saturations and feeding and weight gain.

My LO got out just before her due date, and shes a happy 14 month old (attacking a pringles tube as we speak......)

Can you get a chance to see the neonatal unit? Just to prepare yourself?

You will get to look after your baby in the incubator, cleaning, doing cares, nappy changes and cuddles. The nurses will encourage you to be involved. Take books to read to LO


In the meantime, look after yourself, pack the hospital bag for yourself, baby wont need one.
If you havent applied for your health in pregnancy grant - do it now - the midwife has the forms and you arent entitled when baby is born (but you can try anyway!)

KayshaBlake, another member in this section, had her baby at 30 weeks(I think ) for same reason as yourself, so she will know more in terms of weight gain etc.

Theres a quite a few Scots preemie mums on here, so you might find someone nearby!

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

thanks for sharing your story do did you deliver naturally then they have told me that it will be a def ceserean which im gutted about xx

 

[AP]

I delivered 'natural' but this was probably because the labour and all was no different to a full term birth.

I was taken into theatre at first, where they had to break my waters. Because LO was so small, she could turn any way she wanted so the option of C section had to be readily available.

She luckily went into the right way and i was wheeled out.

I would say though, most of the other preemie mums I met had c sections. Please dont be gutted hun - I am betting their reasons for C section are prob best for you and baby.

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

they just said cause they want to deliver her and not that she wants to come out so think that being induced and a long labour might not be the best for her, i gave birth natuaral with no pian relief last time and loved it though so wanted to do it again xx

 

[pink.crazy]

Hey hun.. my waters went at 26 weeks and at that time we thought baby would arrived there and then - I had a scan and his weight was estimated at 1lb 13oz. I had the steroids on that day and again the following day to help his lungs - I imagine you will get these too as you know in advance babys arrival is going to happen soon. From talking to other people on the unit, it was clear that the steroids work in amazing ways... my LO arrived at 28 weeks and only spent 15 hours on the ventilator! My friend (from the NICU)s baby was born at 29 weeks and because she had the steroids, baby wasn't ventilated at all and was in air from day 1
ANYWAY.. I had baby naturally, as he was head down and I laboured on my own (very quickly too!) when he was born, they took him over to the warmer and ventilated him before taking him to NICU.. he was in a bag, as this keeps their temp up for being transported. He went up to ICU when he was stable (30 mins old) and there he had a cannula for antibiotics, monitor leads on his chest, also on his hand and foot -these were for his heartrate, oxygen levels, breaths per minute, temp etc.. he also had a long line set up (in his foot) which his nutrition went into, as they didn't start feeds straight away. Leo had jaundice too, so he was under the lights on and off for a few days. They also put lines into his umbilical cord. He was covered in bubble wrap, as they have to keep the humidity up in the first few days.I was allowed to touch him straight away
He came out for a cuddle at 3 days old - kangaroo care.. he went inside my top (skin to skin) for about an hour. I was lucky, and got cuddles most days .. but obviously only for a short time so he didn't get cold.
It was quite frightening changing his nappy in the early days, as he looked so fragile - but as the nurses kept assuring me, he wouldn't break and was tougher than he looked... they were right
They told me that babies usually have 3 or 4 good days after birth, and then they can get quite tired and take a back step.. Leo did. He came off the vent at 15 hours old and went into cpap.. he came off that on day 4 and had to go back on it pretty quickly, then they gradually weaned him off it. It is SO hard when they have setbacks.. and it does often feel like one step forward and 2 steps back.. but at the same time, they come on in leaps and bounds too.. one day I turned up, and he was in a cot - I actually had to look twice, I was soooo happy.
The small things make a MASSIVE difference... you have to enjoy the good days and just try to get through the bad...
We're all here for you whenever you need, and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say you can ask us ANYTHING.. and we'll be honest xx

 

[hopedance]

hi hun, i was 27 weeks when they admitted me to hospital and told me to expect baby any day. luckily we lasted until 30 weeks, i was having doppler scans every other day and growth scans fortnightly (they insisted that was as frequent as can be useful, strange). sam's umbilical cord was not developed correctly - it had only one artery instead of two, so they predicted he'd be very small but he was a hefty 3lbs 4!

i had a c-section, they said baby was really too small to go through an induction, and that an induction so early was not likely to work anyway. the actual c-section was fine, they got him out quickly and he cried, he didn't need ventilating (hurray for steroids!), after they wrapped him up i got a quick look at his face before they whisked him away to put him in an incubator with all his tubes and wires. he was delivered at 4.45pm, at 9pm that night i managed to get out of my bed into a wheelchair, and my husband wheeled me down to neonatal intensive care, and we got our first cuddle!

if you'd like to see i've got some photos from during the delivery and c-section, and from sam's first minutes and hours that i could link you to?

what life is like looking after a baby who was born so small and early

i've never had a term baby so i can't compare. the first weeks/months were traumatic from the shock of it all, i felt i grieved for having not had a normal pregnancy or the home water birth that i'd wanted so much. i also felt i missed out on having missed out on NCT groups and having never had the chance to learn about things like breastfeeding and taking care of a newborn. those feelings fade though, and me and sam have a wonderful time. i feel very different to other parents, and i can never compare sam's development to other babies as he has two ages, his real age and his corrected age, but he doesnt seem to follow development expectations for either stage! these are small things though, ultimately i feel very lucky to have my little sam and nothing could ever take away from that. that said, sam is totally healthy. i know some preemie mums have extra duties due to their little ones being unwell long term, but they can tell you about that.

 

[AP]

Thats an ideal idea hopedance.

Claire you can see Alexs story at www.babygagasdiary.blogspot.com

 

[hayley x]

I have no advice but wanted to wish you all the best for your daughters birth xxx

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

hi pink.crazy I had the steriod inections 2 weeks ago 4 jags over 48 hours so they have given me then already xx

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

hopedance that would be fab about the pictures it the unknown that is scaring me, only if you dont mind showing them xx

 

[pink.crazy]

I will also share some pics if you like, I will dig them out later x

 

[kayshablake]

ive been through this and am now going through the neonatal scary stuff please read my thread a few posts down named please help and advice needed or something like that ill go and copy n paste and put it here have a read through it alot of ppl have helped me along the way so there may be some usefull reads in there for u xx

 

[kayshablake]

https://www.babyandbump.com/premature-babies/362499-please-give-me-hope-advice.html please read through it am sure u will see similarities in out story x

 

[katy1310]

Hello....I just wanted to share my story in the hope that it might help you to feel a little bit better.

I was having a perfect pregnancy up till 25 weeks when the midwife discovered that I had really high blood pressure. I had to have daily scans, monitoring etc and the consultant thought I might get to 30 weeks, if I was lucky. Then at the next appointment I was told perhaps I would get just another 10 days! I was given the steroids and transferred to a bigger hospital with a more specislist neonatal unit.

I was admitted at 26+5 and at 27 weeks exactly Sophie was delivered by emergency c-section. She weighed 1lb 13 but was breathing on her own. She was ventilated for a day or so but then put onto CPAP. We had a really straightforward journey through neonatal, if you can call it that - we had far fewer problems than we were expecting. The only things we really had were 2 little infections - one from the cord and one in her eye from either the eye tests or the CPAP, she had one blood transfusion and she was back on the ventilator for a few days when she was a couple of weeks old.

She spent 7 weeks in intensive care, 3 in high dependency, 2 in special care and came home 6 days before her due date, weighing 5lb 6.

Sophie is a happy, healthy little baby who is doing all the things you'd expect from a baby of her corrected age, which is 3 months. She now weighs over 10lb and so far is displaying no signs of any problems at all.

If you would like to see photos and read about Sophie's journey right through neonatal you could have a read of my blog (I wrote this throughout my pregnancy and I'm still trying to do it now but haven't had time since Sophie was 19 weeks old...oops!)

If you have any questions or anything I can help with, please pm me. Also I am on facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527385531#!/katherine.baxter1 and there are loads and loads of photos on there!

Good luck xxx

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

thanks girls pics would be great also just going to read the thread thanks all xx

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

thanks Katy will def add you on FB love it lol

so glad all turned out for you

what is cpap xx

 

[clairec81]

Hi Claire

I have a similar-ish story to yours. My 20 wk scan showed virtually no fluid and at this point they gave us no hope - offered us a termination as they said babies lungs would not develop. Over a few weeks and several specialist apt we were given some more hope and told there was sufficient fluid for lung development but fear was early labour and in particular premature rupture of membrains - waters breaking. True enough at 23 weeks my waters broke and got steroids and given worst poss scenario - not survive, if does then will prob be very disabled. Anyway i managed to go on for another 8 + weeks until 33 weeks before i went into labour. I too was receiving weekly scans which were always extremely negative and near the end my consultant didn't even look at the lungs as her was sure what the outcome would be! Anyway i went in to labour on Christmas Eve of all days - i too have another child, he was 2 at the time so i felt extremely guilt that i wasn't with him. We went into hospital prepared for the worst - if you are ever prepared. My daughter Erin was born at 7.30pm and was on a ventilator for 6 hrs. The staff in the NICU couldn't understand why my husband and i kept asking about her lungs and when i went back up to be that night i ask them to come for me if anything was to happen - the nurse looked at me smiled and said she's fine - get a good nights sleep! We had 6 weeks in the NICU and Erin went from strength to strength with a few set backs like infections etc. She is now a happy, health all be it small 8 1/2 month old baby. Life is different with a premature baby and you will have up['s and down's but they are simply miracle and definitely little fighters. Good luck and please keep us informed!

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

wow Claire that was alotof stress for the outfcome, so glad the baby and you are fine though!!

We have the school run in 10 and then head to the hospital for our scan so FX she is doing ok for another few weeks xx

 

[AP]

Fingers crossed hunny. There's a great network here and on facebook so you won't be alone! Xxx