Hello, I'm new to this thread

[20andpregnant]

My LO was born at 34 + 5 days on Monday. He weighted 4 pounds 14 and had problems with his breathing and has been in neonatal care since.
Obviously I didn't prepare for this and I'm feeling emotions I didn't know existed!
The hospital are being amazing but I want my baby! I feel so alone atm and confused to what I should be doing with baby and what is actually happening :/
Does this get easier? I cry every time I see him.

 

[Srrme]

My LO was born at 34 + 5 days on Monday. He weighted 4 pounds 14 and had problems with his breathing and has been in neonatal care since.
Obviously I didn't prepare for this and I'm feeling emotions I didn't know existed!
The hospital are being amazing but I want my baby! I feel so alone atm and confused to what I should be doing with baby and what is actually happening :/
Does this get easier? I cry every time I see him.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby!

My baby was born at 28 weeks & 6 days. The NICU was a roller-coaster of emotions, but it DOES get easier. I cried each time I saw my baby too, but you'll feel so much better once he starts progressing.

Is he on oral feeds yet?

 

[vickyd]

First of all congrats!!

My LO was also born last week at 35 weeks gestation. I was lucky as this was something i knew was coming for a couple of weeks so i had time to prepare emotionally. Even so i cry every time i see her and im feeling less of a mother since i cant be with her all day. It does get easier day by day but im sure that until we take our babies home we will feel like half a person.

 

[toothfairyx]

Hi, and congratulations!
Yes it does get easier. You're right - no-one prepares you for what might happen if your baby is going to arrive early. If you didn't have time to prepare you are probably in some kind of shock. I was for quite a while, and couldn't stop crying each time I went near my baby, or even at random other times when I was nowhere near him.
Make sure you ask questions - he is your baby and you are allowed to know what is happening to him. Feel free to look through his charts. Ask when the ward round is so you can be there, or if you can't make it the consultants will arrange time to meet with you. We took in nappies and other bits and bobs for our baby, so ask if there is anything the hospital likes you to provide.
This is a start of a journey for you, and it will be an emotional rollercoaster like others have said. Take one day at a time and you will be fine xx

 

[cat81]

Welcome and congratulations on your baby. My LO was born back in July at 33+5 weighing 5lb 1oz. He also had some breathing problems and was in neonatal for almost 3 weeks. My labour came on very suddenly and completely out of the blue. I felt completely unprepared both physically and emotionally and found the whole neonatal experience very difficult to cope with.

My advice would be to get as involved as you can as I found it helped me to bond with him and gave me something to focus on. I expressed milk for him, did his nappy changes, tube feeds, washed him etc.

As someone else said, until you bring your baby home, you cant possibly begin to feel normal and it does take time to come to terms with what happened but, over time, things do get easier. I couldnt talk about it for a long time afterwards but have recently found it helps to chat to other mums of premmies who have been through a similar experience. At the end of the day, my baby is now a happy and healthy 6 month old with no health problems we are aware, of so in the grand scheme of things, I am incredibly lucky.

This forum is great for getting advice or just venting your frustrations and we will all be here for you in the next few weeks, and beyond, if you need us.

 

[AP]

Hey hun
Please dont be afraid to ask questions, do it now!!! congratulations on your new arrival however! Xxx

 

[PrincessPea]

Hey,

Congratulations on the birth of you LO. My LO was born in Sept at 24+4 weighing 1lb 5oz. I didnt know until the day I had her (5 hours before I had her in fact) that I was even ill or there was even a problem. It is a massive shock to the system so give yourself a break and just go with the emotions, it is horrendous I know but as the girls have said already it does get easier and once you get your LO home it is all worth it. Also as has been said, ask lots of questions so you know exactly what is going on and get involved as much as you can. If anyone offers help or support, take it. And we are all here on b'n'b if you need to ask anything, the girls are fantastic and there is usually someone who has already experience what you are going through.

Take care, loads of hugs, stay strong. xx

 

[Bumblebee20]

Hi im also new.My son was born at 33weeks and measured 30cm at birth,he had realy bad jaundas and was so small and weak.it was a very scary and emontial time as it would be to every parent,now he is 3 years old to look at him you wouldnt think he was that tiny baby that lay there for weeks in the SCBU.