Andrew - born at 29 weeks!

[DonnaBallona]

Kangaroo cuddles are THE BEST EVER!!! they smell soooo good snuggled up against you dont they!!

This is Brooke after having her first Kangaroo cuddles with me. . .Id just got her out of my nightie. Look how chilled out she looks! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic
https://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj150/2Donna1/SDC10077.jpg

You are such a lucky lady having such a perfect LO. And know one of the best things? When you get him out of hospital, people will say to you "oh, enjoy him being tiny, newborn doesnt last long!" They're all wrong, thats one of the positive points of having a preemie, they're teeny for longer!
Brooke's been the size of a newborn for 7 months now

Enjoy x x

 

[Marleysgirl]

Kangaroo cuddles are THE BEST EVER!!! they smell soooo good snuggled up against you dont they!!

This is Brooke after having her first Kangaroo cuddles with me. . .Id just got her out of my nightie. Look how chilled out she looks! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic
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You are such a lucky lady having such a perfect LO. And know one of the best things? When you get him out of hospital, people will say to you "oh, enjoy him being tiny, newborn doesnt last long!" They're all wrong, thats one of the positive points of having a preemie, they're teeny for longer!
Brooke's been the size of a newborn for 7 months now

Enjoy x x

Donna, how big was Brooke when you were allowed to take her home? It's difficult for me to get a handle on this, given that all Andrew appears to have is IUGR and no other problems - are they likely to let him home early (as if he was born at 36+ wks), or will they keep him in as long as possible? Presuming he masters his breathing of course!

Good luck with Baby No. 2

 

[DonnaBallona]

Brooke came out of hopsital at 3lb 7oz. I begged and begged and begged them to let me take her home after about a month and she finally was released at week 5. Brooke was the smallest baby the unit had ever discharged.

She was in an incubator until 4 weeks old, and then I caught the Pead doing his rounds and I asked him if he would try Brooke out at least in a Kan-med. I was adament she would be fine. They had reduced the temperature right down in the incubator, she had no oxygen and she held her own temperature. He wasnt convinced and it took me two days of begging to let him try her.

She was moved out of the incubator into the Kan-Med at 4+2, and once again she suprised them. She was too warm in it, so they kept slowly reducing the temperature down until it was at normal level. Then I started begging them to try her in an open cot.

She went into an Open cot at 4+4, then at 4+5 we were allowed to room in for 3 nights.

She came home on March 5th She was at 37 weeks by this point.

Im still suprised they let her home that small, and I wont lie, I was terrified. I think it had alot to do with the fact that she was feeding well, although only putting on 1 oz every 4 days! we had the Community Nurse from SCBU come out every 2 days to see her, and I had to take her back to SCBU for a check up after 5 days at home. They told me if she hadnt gained weight the they would readmit her. Well, I fed her up good'n'proper that week!! Although Ill admit, It was harder work than I envisaged-having her home so small.

Brooke was born at 32 weeks though bird-although they think she stopped growing at around 28 weeks. Andrew will show you when he is ready for the big wide world I hope its really soon for you.

How old is he now-how is his weight, and feeding? xx

ETA: The SCBU unti generally tell you to aim to be relased on their due date. I think Brooke and I got EXTREMELY lucky

 

[premmiemum123]

We had a lovely SC nurse today who is really into "kangaroo care" (she did her dissertation on the subject) and who was amazed to find out that we'd only had normal cuddles, no skin-to-skin sessions so far .... So I got my first skin-to-skin cuddle with Andrew this afternoon!!! And it was amazing, he fitted so perfectly against me and just settled into the moment. I'm blown away.

Kangeroo care is the best, it is so wonderful feeling your LO against your bare skin...you will feel sleepy and so contented. They fit perfectly against your skin as they were once part of you. The perfect fit as you say.
I am so pleased you are having kangeroo care...make sure you have lots, insist on it if they don't offer it, Andrew is your LO and needs that contact, they won't be offended if you become a bit demanding, just repeat the SC nurses dissertation. I think Emily benefitted from kangeroo care hugely which is why her progress was so good for a 26 week old premmie.
Even now at home Emily snuggles onto my chest and falls straight asleep, sometimes when she is grumpy it is the best way to settle her.

Enjoy lots more cuddles...x

 

[avabear73]

Congrats on Andrew's progress - that's very impressive weight gain, what a trooper!

Finlay got home 3 days before 40 weeks, I think that's a fairly common rule of thumb. So pleased to hear that Andrew is doing well, and I agree, push for as many cuddles as they will let you have That first skin-to-skin is always incredibly special though, it's one of the best experiences of my life It's odd, we were never offered one, until the nurse who does a lot of the BF counselling came in, and she offered right away. I think in general the nurses are rushed off their feet and if it's not a passion/interest of theirs, they get sidetracked with other stuff, so it often comes down to who is on when you go in.

 

[DiddyDons]

hes looking so gorgeous and sounds like a right little fighter Keep up the good work little man x

 

[Marleysgirl]

Brooke was born at 32 weeks though bird-although they think she stopped growing at around 28 weeks. Andrew will show you when he is ready for the big wide world I hope its really soon for you.

How old is he now-how is his weight, and feeding? xx

Andrew will be 4 weeks tomorrow (was born at 29wks, about the size of a 25wk-old), now weighs 2lb 1oz, and is currently being fed 8ml EBM per hour.

It's still early days for him, he's on Cpap and being tube-fed. I'm presuming that they won't release him until he's breathing unassisted or with low-flow oxygen, and until he can breastfeed. So I know I'm jumping the gun with my enthusiasm to get him home! But these thoughts keep me going And the nurse thinks he turned his head on his own today when lying on his tummy

I'm not ready to have him home yet anyway - they're still trying to decide what to do about my non-healing c/section wound

 

[Foogirl]

Donna, how big was Brooke when you were allowed to take her home? It's difficult for me to get a handle on this, given that all Andrew appears to have is IUGR and no other problems - are they likely to let him home early (as if he was born at 36+ wks), or will they keep him in as long as possible? Presuming he masters his breathing of course!

One of the best pieces of advice I was given was, stop worrying about when they will get home. If you think about it and ask every few days, it seems to go much more slowly. Enjoy being with him and doing the care and the kangaroo cuddles, the time will pass soon enough. I was doubtful about it, but it really did go alot quicker when I just concentrated on getting myself into the routine and the mindset of being at the hospital and giving Abby what she needed when I was there. I also concentrated on getting myself healed (my wound kept leaking too!) and getting her room and everything ready. It gave me some purpose. Take plenty of baths - you don't know when you'll next get the chance once he is home!

They wouldn't even give us an indication, because every baby is different. For us we knew it was all down to her feeding. As soon as she was able to feed without the tube, it was only days whilst they monitored her weight. After 3 days of her putting on regular weight, they prepared us for her coming home. It was going to be a week from then but in the end it was only a couple of days. She was 11 weeks early, 3lbs 7oz. When she got out it was 6 and a half weeks later and she was just over 6lbs.

ps...he is gorgeous.

 

[Dona]

Hey Hun,

Archie came home 4 days after his due date. He was on o2 right up to 39+2 weeks gestation. He was born 13 weeks early and weighed 2lb 6oz. We knew of a little baby girl that was born at 34 weeks and weighed 2lb 11oz. She was in for 4 weeks as she only needed to establish feeding - no breathing issues.

I would aim for his due date and anything before that is a bonus.

Andrew is a wee stunner, I bet he makes his Mummy and Daddy so proud of what he's achieved already since the day he was born.

Keep us posted with more pictures!

Dona and Archie xx

 

[nkbapbt]

^ I couldn't agree more with that!

 

[Amyre]

How amazing. He is so strong & absolutely beautiful. You are such a lucky mom.

 

[Marleysgirl]

Woohoo - I'm now Mum to a bag of sugar! Andrew weighed in at almost a kilogram this morning - 2lb 3oz

 

[jem_5500]

glad he is doing so well sweety xx

 

[bumpsmum]

Go Andrew thats fantastic x

 

[Marleysgirl]

Two bits of news from today - firstly, as Andrew's weight has increased, so has his EBM, which is now up to 8.5ml/hr! And secondly, he had his first screening for ROP and nothing was found at this point, though I'm told they will re-screen regularly for the next few weeks.

 

[tillymum]

Hi Marley.
Congrats on the safe arrival of Andrew, just been reading your thread and he sounds like a real little fighter. He's so teeny tiny but so perfect too.
xxx

 

[avabear73]

More good news from Andrew today - excellent. He's such a little star

 

[Marleysgirl]

Andrew has appeared to be struggling with his 4on/4off Cpap routine for the last two days - it transpires that the Docs decreased his caffeine & salt supplements, which he obviously wasn't ready for. They've now re-increased the dose, and Andrew is more settled again (less de-sats, and no bradys last night).

At last night's weigh-in (sounds like a boxer, mind you, looks like a boxer too!) Andrew had put on another 106g to now weight 1.1 kg (2lb 6.5oz), which is an increase of 6 ounces in one week! It's good to see that he's now fattening up at roughly the speed he would in the womb. Definitely no need to get him lb clothing!!!

 

[dippy dee]

aww hun is is doing so well and it must be super milk he is on putting all that weight on.
I'm glad they found out the reason for the desats and bradies.
Big hugs to you all xx

 

[avabear73]

It's all that EBM Marleys - it's great stuff! Glad he's stabilised again and really good to hear he's progressing so well