Planned c-section at 34 weeks on Wednesday - advice...

[raquel1980]

Hi all - I am booked in for a planned section on Wednesday for my twins at 34 weeks due to PROM at 27 weeks and other complications throughout the pregnancy. I just wondered whether anyone had any advice about what to expect - I have a little list of questions and would really appreciate your experiences:

Will I get to see the baby's before they take them away? Will my husband go with the baby's leaving me alone? When am I likely to be able to go and see the baby's? Do I need to take anything for the baby's into hospital with me (I haven't bought anything at all yet as this pregnancy has always been complicated and up in the air so I haven't wanted to go out shopping)? There are probably loads more, but the hospital haven't really told me anything as yet....

I have a real mixture of emotions at the moment, it's weird because we've been working up to this time for the last few months but now it's here I just can't believe that I will now have to face up to whatever reality is with the babies (the docs are very doom and gloom about one of the baby's who is IUGR and low fluid)....does that make sense to anyone?

 

[mumof2kids]

Hi, congrats on your twins you have done great to reach 34 weeks its a very good gestation. Yes u will see your baby before they take him/her if there is no issue with breathing they will let u and dad hold the baby too before they take them and assess further. They generally don't let your hubby to go straight away to see the baby after an hour or so according to the sitaution of their health, but it could vary from hospital with my daughter born 32 weeks my hubby went within the hour, with my son born 26 weeks it was much longer.

You can see your baby once u feel ready to and how u are recovering, after a c-sec it can take some hours to a day according to how u feel. If your babies are ok with their breathing etc they may bring one or both babies to u. My personal experience with my daughter 32 weeker I didn't see her for 2 days as I had severe pre-e. With my son I went 18 hours after he was born. You mentioned one baby being IUGR do you know the current estimated weight of the babies? IGUR babies need more attention so you will only know once he/she is born.

I don't think you need to worry about what to take right now, if the hospital haven't mentioned anything then it's probably not to worry too much. If you still want u could take some prem baby grows, vests, hats and blankets it all according to babies weight. According to hospital policy you may be asked to bring in nappies but u can leave that to your family members.

Have they planned to give you steriods? It will mature the babies lungs.

And with regards to the doom and gloom of IUGR, I totally understand having gone through it myself my son born in July at 26+2 weeks was IUGR from 21weeks and all the consultants and fetal medicine Drs were all negative all they could say is the baby wouldn't make it, will have a million and one problems and it was pure luck that he was born in time he was very small for gestation as was expected for a severe IUGR baby. It's on a number of factors, first of all your the gestation of your babies are gr8 a number of women who have had babies at 34wks have had very minor or no problems at all. Second is the weight how IGUR is the baby. I also had low amniotic fluid. He was born 1lb 5oz and is currently still in hospital he has trouble with his lungs but other than that is doing well. It's also pure luck how each indivdual baby does.

Keep positive I know nerves get the better of us and until our babies are born its always a stressful time. Please let us know how u get on and if you are concerned you can message me. Lots of luck! x

 

[cat81]

I have no experience of twins but my baby was born at 33+5. When he was born I was able to hold him and we took some pictures. He was a good weight for gestation (5lb 1). He was then taken away and my husband went with him (I told him to as I didnt want Thomas going alone) while I had to stay to get cleaned up and checked over. After a shower, I was taken to the ward and was then able to go see my baby in the neonatal unit. He was in an incubator as he had some breathing difficulties but I believe that this may not have been necessary if I had been given steroids earlier which I assume you will be. My labour came on very suddenly and completely out of the blue.

You probably wont need much for the babies although at my hospital, after a couple of days, they asked us to bring in nappies and cotton wool etc. Depending on the care your babies need, you may be able to put them in their own clothes as well. Mothercare does some good early baby things, as does Asda.

My baby was in hospital for nearly 3 weeks in total. He is now 13 weeks and doing brilliantly. The next few weeks will be tough but 34 weeks is not that early so hopefully your babies will be fine. There are some fantastic girls on this forum who can provide great advice so keep us updated and ask any questions you have.

Good luck. Will be thinking of you. x

 

[katy1310]

Hi, and big hugs. Every situation is different, so I can't say what will happen, but I can tell you what my experience was like. Sophie was much earlier so perhaps it will be different for you.

Sophie was born by emergency c-section at 27 weeks, and was very very small at 1lb 13. I was very ill before having her - i had pre eclampsia which turned very severe very suddenly, and I was one hour from organ failure. In our case, it was essential that Sophie was seen to immediately after birth, so we didn't get to see her straight away - they told us when they were lifting her out, we heard her cry (the best sound in the world - she sounded like a little kitten!) and they tried to get DH's attention so he could see what the sex was, but we were too busy being all emotional about the fact that she'd cried and they didn't manage to get his attention fast enough!

Sophie was put into a plastic bag (standard procedure for preemies when they are first born and not as scary as it sounds!) and taken away to a side room where they got her into an incubator etc, got her ventilated etc. She had breathed on her own for 30 minutes but then she got tired, and was put onto a ventilator for a day or so.

I was then stitched up and taken into high dependency, and DH was with me for a while and he made all the phone calls to let people know that the baby was here safely.

When Sophie was about 2 hours old, DH was allowed to go and see her, and he took a photo and brought it back to show me. I was not allowed to see her till the next day, which was the worst thing ever, but it was because I was so ill rather than anything else. They said if I'd been up to it they could have taken me to see her the day she was born.

When she was about a day old she was taken off the ventilator and put on CPAP till she was 37 weeks (but they were cycling her off it from about 32 weeks). She did go back on the ventilator again for a few days when she was a couple of weeks old but that was really the only setback we had. She was in intensive care for 7 weeks, high dependency for 3 weeks and special care for 2 weeks, and came home 6 days before her due date. She was in her incubator for 8 weeks and then when she reached 4lb she went into a heated cot. After about 3 weeks in a heated cot, she went into a normal cot.

In our hospital, parents were allowed to visit between 9am and 10.30pm, but I was also allowed in through the night when I was still staying in hospital.

We didn't actually take anything in for Sophie - she was too tiny for clothes until she was about 8 weeks old, and the hospital provided nappies the whole time she was in. The nappies she was in at first were tinier than you can buy in the shops - they told us they had to order them in specially from America. When she started wearing clothes, the hospital provided them but we also had a few things that were small enough and we took them in too.

At 34 weeks your babies will be bigger than Sophie, although with twins maybe smaller than if it was just one baby at 34 weeks. If one has IUGR I'm not sure how small it will be - there are other ladies on here who had IUGR babies who might be able to help.

Have you had a chance to get a tour of the neonatal unit so you know what to expect? We had that 2 days before Sophie was born, and it really helped us to know what we might expect. We also talked to a paediatrician before she was born and she talked us through what we could expect to happen after she was born. Make sure you ask all the questions you need to - don't just worry on your own!

I hope this helps - any questions, just pm me.

xxxxxx

 

[Fiestagal]

I was told that 99% of mums get to see their babies before transferring to the neonatal unit. I did get to see my son for a few minutes before they took him, he was breathing fine on his own and they were happy with him. My H stayed with me during stitching up and recovery and then they wheeled me on the bed into the neonatal unit to see my baby before taking me to the ward. I was able to take photos and they gave me a printed copy of a photo they had took with their camera. It was the next day when I was on my feet again before I saw him again.

Connor was also IUGR and weighed 2lb 11 1/2oz at 34+6, despite his small size for his gestation I think that the 'older' gestation was in his favour. He was the smallest in the unit but also the one that needed the least intervention.

 

[katy1310]

I was told that 99% of mums get to see their babies before transferring to the neonatal unit. I did get to see my son for a few minutes before they took him, he was breathing fine on his own and they were happy with him. My H stayed with me during stitching up and recovery and then they wheeled me on the bed into the neonatal unit to see my baby before taking me to the ward. I was able to take photos and they gave me a printed copy of a photo they had took with their camera. It was the next day when I was on my feet again before I saw him again.

Connor was also IUGR and weighed 2lb 11 1/2oz at 34+6, despite his small size for his gestation I think that the 'older' gestation was in his favour. He was the smallest in the unit but also the one that needed the least intervention.

I think you're right about the gestation being in their favour - I know of some IUGR babies that were born at 30+ weeks that were as small as or smaller than Sophie who was born at 27 weeks (1lb 13) and they did better with the breathing etc, needing little or no help and spent less time in the incubator etc. Re the neonatal unit taking a picture of the baby for you - ours told us they used to do that but they stopped due to the babies' privacy!!!

 

[aob1013]

I had PROM and my son was born by EMCS at 34 weeks.

I saw him before he went to SCBU, then after recovery i saw him again, the next day i held him etc, and a few days later feeding him from the breast.

He came out kicking and screaming, alert and passed him APGAR test. He was 4lbs 14 1/2oz and breathing on his own. He came home 10 days later.

 

[Fiestagal]

I think it was my consultant who first said that his gestation age was a good thing, he also had his suck reflex when I tried feeding him 3 days later. He was in a heated cot for 4 weeks but other than that he was a 'feeder and a grower'.

I do realise how smooth our scbu journey was compared to others on here.

 

[Anna_due Dec]

i don't have much to add except if you don't want your partner to leave you alone, just tell him...the hospital won't make him follow the babies and in general when they take them, they don't want any parents to follow because they are putting in the baby's drip etc and they try to do this away from mum and dad. goodluck with your babies. At 34 weeks i'm sure they'll be just fine and they'll be home before you know it.

 

[raquel1980]

Thanks so much for sharing all your experiences, it really does help to know kind of what to expect. These few days since finding out the date of c-section really seem to be dragging....have to go to labour ward later though for a CTG so will probably be there for a good few hours!

I'm going to ask for a tour of the NICU on either Monday or Tuesday so that I kind of know what to expect and hopefully a discussion with one of the paediatricians - they did come to speak to me at 27 weeks when my waters went but I was very scared then so didn't take a lot of it in.

The estimated weights for babies are - 4lb2oz and 3lb4oz (this is the baby with IUGR). They seem to be more concerned now about the fact that the smaller baby has had low to no fluid which was picked up at the 20 week scan and keep saying that they don't know whether her lungs will be developed enough to survive. They all think the weights are looking quite good.

Thanks again for all your help ladies, really appreciate it - what a helpful bunch you are xx

 

[MrsRNI]

Hi there i know what you must be feeling. I had my little girl at 34+0 due to PROM at 31wks she weighted 3lb 10oz. During those 3 wks she hadnt grown so i had to be induced. Have they given you the steriod injections yet? I had quite a few bad bleeds at 17, 24 and 27 wks which i had to stay in hospital for a wk as they thought i was going to give birth then so i can fully understand how scared you are.

I think you should def ask for a tour of the nicu thankfully we were allowed to go and c it plus ask the nurses questions about what might happen.

As for when olivia was born, i gave birth naturally, she came out screaming and a very good colour pasted the apgar with flying colours. When she was born they put her on my chest and allowed me to hold for for about 5mins before taking her to clean her up and then gave her back so me and husband could hold her, they took her away about 1/2hr later to get her settled she only needed a drip to give her the extra nutrients she needed and she was feed on EBM, husband went to c her about 1/2 hr after that as i had to go into surgery as i had a retained placenta. I was allowed to c her before i went down to the ward and they gave me a photo of her they had taking of her in the incubator. The next day we spent the whole day with her. She was there for 12days. the only thing we had to bring was nappies and a few blankets for when your cuddling them.

I hope everything goes ok for you and your littles ones