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My baby will be 4 weeks early....

Last time I was pregnant back in 2009 I developed a horrifically rare condition at 34 weeks, of which I am one of only a few in Europe to have ever had it. Its called uterine torsion, this caused many ruptures and tore my womb up into what my consultant described as a "jigsaw puzzle". My son died and I was not fair behind him. I am now currently 26 weeks pregnant again and being monitored very closely with scans every couple of weeks and seeing doc every week. I am going to be admitted to hospital for the last 4 weeks at 32 weeks pregnant and will be having a section at 36 weeks as they don't want me to go into natural labour. I know 4 weeks premature is not that far off the full term but I am still worried about how my baby will be when he comes out and what problems he is likely to have. My consultant has not really told me much about this, I think she is waiting till I am admitted and she will got through everything then, but I am worrying about it now. I just want to know how long have other babies had to stay in hospital after being born at 36 weeks and what problems I can expect. He was measured last week on my scan and his weight is going well so far, 1 lb 11oz which is normal for this stage.

Any info greatly appreciated.

XX

Replies

  • my baby was born at 32+ weeks so earlier than your lo will be. she was born after my waters went and i went into labour very quickly, too quickly to try to hold her off until i had steroid injections.



    i had one lot of steroids but dd was born just 2 hours later so they had little if any effect. when she was born she was 4lb 11oz so big for how early she was. her apgar scores were 9 at birth and 10 at 5mins. she needed no help at all with breathing and only spent 1.5 days in intensive care until her bloods came back clear for infection. she also only spent 48 hours in an incubator.



    she was having bottles at 2.5days old. we found that she had a small bleed on her brain but if it had not been for the routine head scans they do with prems we would never have known. it has made absolutely now difference to her or her development. the only 'problems' she has had were jaudice and reflux which thousands or full termers have the same problems.



    she spent just 19 days in scbu. i hope this has helped to answer some of your questions. feel free to ask anymore



    karen
  • Thank you Karen

    You are so lucky your little had so few problems, and it has given me a bit more hope that things will be ok this time round with all the monitoring I am getting. I was just worried as the hospital I am booked in at has no neonatal unit I only found out today, only special care which I have been told can only take babies from 34 weeks, so if it did come early I would have to be transfered to another hospital an hour away, which is very stressful to think about. Did it affect your bonding with your daughter, as thats another thing that worries me, if I cant hold my baby and he is in an incubator even for a few days it might stop us bonding. Did they let you see her when ever you wanted to and were you aloud to stay at the hospital with her?

    CharlieB

  • DS1 was 5wks early,my hind waters were leaking and when i got checked out at the hospital they found out i was already 3-4cm dialated,so that night my waters hadnt popped so they did it for me,DS1 was born 4 1/2 hours later,he had Jaundice but that was all,he was in and out of a incubator for 5 days and that was it,becouse we had our own room,i was allowed to stay with him and also hubbie could stay the nights



    my second pregnancy (twins) my waters went at 31wks they was in scbu for 5wks
  • my daughter was born at 34 weeks after my waters breaking at 25 and i had 9 weeks or leaking before the fluid had completely gone and they induced me. 36 weeks is usually fine and as long as she's a good weight, can breathe well, feed well and can hold her body temperature your baby should be able to go home.

    my daughter cudnt breathe very well and had cpap for 48hrs and then breathed without aid. she had jaundic which is common in preterm births and problems feeding. after 2 weeks she was allowed home.

    every baby differs but i would spk to your consultant and present your worries. they should always tell u what to expect.

    good luck xxx
  • when she was born i was able to hold her straight away after a few checks before she was taken down to scbu. while she was in the incubator i did get to hold her when they were moving her from intensive care to HDU. once she was out of the incubator i could give her bottles and cuddle her. you also get to do all the cares for them (nappys and wipe over).



    i was lucky that the maternity ward let me stay as long as i wished within reason, she was born on thursday night but i didnt go home until the sunday lunchtime. while i was there i could down to scbu anytime day or night. i could sit all night in scbu if i wished they only condition they had was that i didnt snore :lol: when i went home i would be down the hospital for 10am when the drs did their rounds to i could see them nad find out what was happening. i would then go home for some lunch then take my mum down for afternoon visiting, take her home then back down, dh would then come straight from work and we would stay until about 7pm. the visiting times were very strict for everyone excpet the parents who could visit at anytime
  • Having a premmie is scary, I won't deny that. My daughter was born at 30 +3 in Oct 2009 when I got sudden and severe pre-eclampsia. I had an emergency section there and then. She was 2lb 4oz.

    I just wanted to answer your question about bonding with the baby. As my little one was so tiny I didn't get a cuddle for a whole week which was hard. She was still in HDU at this point, but was moved into the normal nursery a couple of days later. She was in an incubator for 4 weeks, so we could only have a couple of cuddles each day and not for very long. But those cuddles were so special - she would spend time each day down my top, it was lovely! So even though we couldn't cuddle much, we could touch her, hold her hand, talk to her. Those times were very precious. Then she was moved into a cot after 4 weeks and we could cuddle all day if we wanted to. image I wouldn't say that we had any difficulties bonding with her at all! The SCBU staff were amazing! Looking back it was difficult at the time, she was in SCBU for 8 weeks, but now I wouldn't change it for the world. I now have a very strong, healthy and happy 17 month old.

    Please try not to worry, most prem babies are absolutely fine. image
  • hey hun my baby was born 4 weeks early. after my waters broke on my birthday ( she was bornt the next morning) she weight 4lbs 15.5oz but the size ov a 3lb baby. she was in special care for 4days as she had a bit ov fluid on her lungs wich they said was due to her quick delivery however a baby born at 40weeks can have it too , so she jus needed a bit ov oxygen . apart from that she was fine . we spend 8 days in hospital as my local hospital like to keep babys in till 37 weeks so as soon as she was 37 we was alond home..i was alond to stay the whole time too as i would never have left her and could visitb her in scbu anytime day or night i was lucky as my ward was next to it. she had no follow up apointments after leaving hospital excepted midwife and health vistor untill she was 40weeks but that was just because she was a low birth weight . and now she is nearly 10months
  • My little girl was born at 36 weeks and weighed 5lb 10oz. My waters went and she was born the next day. She was only kept in for 2 days to have antibiotics because of my waters going early but apart from that she was fine. She is now 2 1/2 almost and i am expecting my 2nd xx Good luck xx
  • my baby was born on 36 weeks since i was bleeding 2 much didn't have any pain so i had 2 do an emergency cs.but my baby is  fine we were back home on 5 days..

     

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