Driving myself crazy - pregnancy after a preemie

[jandksmommy]

Congrats Dinah!!! Sending positive thoughts to your little Benjamin. So glad to hear he is doing so well. Take care of yourself in the next few months. It is difficult with a little one at home and one in hospital but you can do this... everyday he will grow and get stronger and before you know it, he will be home .

 

[lanaross]

Friday the 13th? He will be the luckiest boy ever xxx (I know two people born on Friday 13th, one is a millionaire, not kidding, the other one is just super lucky) Beautiful name too! Congrats and sending all the hugs your way xxx

 

[Dinah93]

Here's Ben. The three photos are him first born being wheeled up to the nicu, at 4 days old having his first cuddle, and at 7 days old free of most of his tubes having a good stretch. He continues to do well, he's been moved to high dependency now and if he can tolerate his feeds for the next 6 days he'll officially be considered just a feeder grower and unlikely to have any major complications.

https://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad265/Dinah93/317_zps91414b28.jpghttps://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad265/Dinah93/2014-06-17123809_zps702dabc8.jpg
https://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad265/Dinah93/20140618_121608_zps5f01175a.jpg

 

[Cheska]

Dinah he's gorgeous!!! The bottom picture is especially cute. I'm
So pleased you've been able to have cuddles. Sounds like a tough little cookie. Thank you for sharing him with us. Hope your feeling well xx

 

[Dinah93]

I'm doing okay, still bleeding quite heavily and I seem to have damaged a ligament either during surgery or while trying to move afterwards so still walking with difficulty. A lot more relaxed now my mother in law is back in Ireland though.

 

[Cheska]

Haha I can imagine your are. Are you still in hospital or home? Sorry to hear about the ligament damage, it's difficult enough to recover anyway without something added in the mix. Bens little baggy skin on his legs remind me of ds when he was born. His feeds still going well?

I'm booked in for Tuesday. Two more sleeps x

 

[Dinah93]

Hey hon, how are you doing?

I'm home now, came home on Tuesday so only had to stay 4 nights. Would have been 3 but I couldn't get a breast pump delivered over the weekend.

Ben is still doing fairly well. It looks like he may need to go back on oxygen as he's desatting a bit, however his nurse thinks he's eager to try oral feeding so we're going to try him at the breast hopefully tomorrow - he'll only be 31+0 so I'm not sure it's going to go well, but worth a shot.

 

[Cheska]

I am good thanks. Had Finn Tuesday, we came home weds. Something I never though would ever happen. Placenta must have been so much better than my previous two babies.

How did the breast feeding go? You doing ok with the pumping? What does Ben weigh now?

 

[hello_kitty]

Congrats dinah! So pleased to hear he is doing well! He looks adorable!

Congrats to you too cheska! What week were you when you had Finn? I'm currently 34+3 and trying to make it to 35 weeks or longer.

 

[RcdM]

Congrats Cheska!! It must be so nice to be able to go home so early and bring your lo with you!

Dinah, hope things are going well for you! I'm surprised they are going to try feeding so soon, but that's great! My dd started around 34 weeks gest and was able to go home a week later. She did really well and only fell asleep a few times. Hope you're doing well yourself too with healing and everything!

 

[Cheska]

37+5 kitty, congrats on your pregnancy. How early was Zachary? What were the reasons for his early appearance?

Thanks rcd. It's like a dream cos I never imagined it could happen. Felt a bit shipped out would have liked another night of hospital care after a major op but it was also nice to be home. Congratulations on your bump too. Hope your both enjoying pregnancy as much as possible x

 

[Dinah93]

Congratulations on baby Finn - so pleased you got to take him home with you.

Had a few bumps here, Ben's tummy got very swollen the other morning so they've stopped all feeds for 4 days as he has suspected nec. Waiting to hear back from the head of radiology if he thinks today's xray is normal and we can start back on them... back down to 0.5ml/hr. He was up to 13ml/2hrs and tolerating it really well until they decided to add fortifier in - then within 24 hours he was sick and bloated. So the other option is he has a milk protein intolerance - so his neonatologist is putting in a request for human milk fortifier rather than the standard cows milk, if he's approved that'll mean Ben is the first baby in the UK to get this stuff.

 

[hello_kitty]

Cheska you were able to make it full term then! That is so great! Zachary came at 32+1 weeks. I went into labor at 31+6 they were able to stop it for awhile but as soon as they weaned me off the meds I started dilating and had to deliver him. It was due to a bacterial infection. This time doc says I have a short cervix that could result in preterm labor.

Dinah sorry about Finn not feeling well. I hope he'll feel better soon and will get the human mill fortifier.

 

[shobbs]

Just wanted to give some advice I had a 28 week premie last year and was a little tripper at the start off ventilator and Cpap by day 2. By 14 days old he was put on milk fortifier to help gain weight etc but this made his tummy huge and suspected NEC. Please research the fortifier as I've read a few stories about this and refused to give it to my son.

 

[Dinah93]

Thanks Shobbs, we're building up on feeds again but yes I've done a lot of reading the last few days and I'm completely unconvinced that fortifier is worth it, between introducing cows protein so early increasing allergies and the fact that fortifier completely kills off the anti-bacterial agents in breast milk and makes them susceptible to all kinds of additional infections, plus the fact in studies it's led to only a marginal increase in weight gain, and they can use separate supplements for the vitamins and minerals that are needed.... we're planning to be firm that we want to refuse fortifier. Can I ask did your little one end up with a cows milk intolerance or was it literally just an early reaction to fortifer?

 

[shobbs]

He was breast feed up until we left the unit (11 weeks old) then put onto nutriprem 2, he would only tolerate small regular feeds at first and when I started weening he would have a tolerance to yogurts so kept reintroducing it along with any dairy etc. that was our only issue. He is now a tiny 16 month old that will eat anything and everything. The doctors and I had a meeting regarding the fortifier and decided not to reintroduce as he showed signs of NEC. They said that if your baby has a reaction from the fortifier from the first time they had it they will not reintroduce as it's highly likely to happen again. We were very lucky x

 

[Cheska]

How are you and Ben dinah?

Hello kitty you made it to full term!? Xx

 

[hello_kitty]

How are you and Ben dinah?

Hello kitty you made it to full term!? Xx

Sadly, I did not! Only 1.5 weeks away! He came at 35+3 weighing 6 lbs 5 oz and 19 inch. He stayed in the hospital nursery for 10 days the last 3 days was for routine monitoring to make sure he doesnt develop further problems. The morning that I went into labor I was thinking "darn it! I'm only less than 2 weeks away from term!"

He's 5 weeks tomorrow and last time I checked weighed over 9 lbs so I am happy.

 

[hello_kitty]

This is a pic of him!

 

[Cheska]

Awh bless he's gorgeous, all that hair! 9lb around his due date is amazing, he was a good weight for his gestation wasn't he! Good job feeding him up mama.

What does his big brother think of him?