Please help a preemie

[2bliss]

Over the past two months I've received PMs from quite a number of Hubbers who had their babies born prematurely.  Did a quick Google search and it turns out the estimated rate of preterm birth in SA is 14% (and on the rise)!  I had no idea it happens so frequently.    Granted, not all are very premature like Bunny.

 

Question for preemie parents (please PM if you do not wish to respond publicly):  How to cope with the anxiety associated with taking home a tiny 2 kg baby with a history of intermittent apnoea and the increased risk of SIDS all preemies face?  Do you buy a monitor for pulse rate and blood oxygen?  Do you take a chance with a monitor based on movement?  Do you take turns sleeping and watching baby?  Do you just trust / believe all will be well?

 

(We've already ensured Bunny will be sleeping in Halo^R swaddle sleeping bags - no loose blankets near her sweet face!)

 

EDIT: Let's have a "like" for NICU awareness month (September) http://www.nicuawareness.org/

Edited September 20, 2017 by 2bliss

[Escapee..]

Over the past two months I've received PMs from quite a number of Hubbers who had their babies born prematurely.  Did a quick Google search and it turns out the estimated rate of preterm birth in SA is 14% (and on the rise)!  I had no idea it happens so frequently.    Granted, not all are very premature like Bunny.

 

Question for preemie parents (please PM if you do not wish to respond publicly):  How to cope with the anxiety associated with taking home a tiny 2 kg baby with a history of intermittent apnoea and the increased risk of SIDS all preemies face?  Do you buy a monitor for pulse rate and blood oxygen?  Do you take a chance with a monitor based on movement?  Do you take turns sleeping and watching baby?  Do you just trust / believe all will be well?

 

(We've already ensured Bunny will be sleeping in Halo^R swaddle sleeping bags - no loose blankets near her sweet face!)

 

Twins were born at 35 weeks.

When we took the twins home after 5 days in hospital they weighed 2.1kg and 1.9kg.

 

 

You are just expected to take this little tiny human home and keep it alive! Luckily the day before they went home there was an angel/hero on duty at the hospital and she saw we were very stressed out.

 

Took us through everything, feeding, nappies, bath time, what to look for what not to worry about etc.  

 

Went back in the afternoon and again she helped us go through everything so that we are comfortable.

 

So home we went...

 

We got the Snuza Hero monitors, worked extremely well for us and we had total piece of mind (well the first month or so we checked every 15 minutes on them in any case    )

http://www.snuza.com/breathing-monitors/snuza-heromd/

 

 

They also fed every 2-3hours so you are almost constantly with them and they slept with us in the room so it was easy to check on them.

 

 

They are 9 months old now, we chatted about it the other day. Looking back we cant believe how tiny they were.

 

We have no idea how we did it..

Edited September 20, 2017 by Escapee..

[Boerklong]

Great news. We must reserve the Hub name "Bunnyhop" for her.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Boerklong

[2bliss]

@Escapee: Thanks for sharing.  Your little ones are beautiful!  Bunny will also be going home when she reaches 2 kg.  Most people don't realise just how small a baby is at that weight.  Her parents are both excited and petrified at the prospect of taking her home.  They were traumatised by witnessing a number of resuscitations.  (I did not include much of the really bad stuff early on in this thread.)  Luckily they were gifted the Snuza device.  Glad to hear you guys found it effective     Mum and dad also received first-aid training just to be safe.

 

Bunny is managing with two of her feeds being bottles now.  However, the extra energy expenditure of drinking from bottles, taking baths and being treated more like a full-term baby has slowed her weight gain a bit. She is up from 1.740kg to 1.810kg. Almost there...

[PhilipV]

We also rolled with the snuza for a couple of months.

[Gen]

My friend who's baby was born 25 weeks into pregnancy told us a story a little while ago.

 

After her daughter could come home it happened a few times that she stopped breathing of course tough times that they all went through.. so she would of course always check if she was breathing no matter where they went and how she grew..if they drove in the car she would always turn around and check on her while she was in the car seat and ask if she is okay and breathing.. when the little girl was about 4 yrs old my friend turned around to check as it had become a habit..before she could say anything her daughter said to her.. "Ja mamma ek asem nog.."[emoji5]

 

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Edited September 21, 2017 by Gen

[2bliss]

My friend who's baby was born 25 weeks into pregnancy told us a story a little while ago.

 

After her daughter could come home it happened a few times that she stopped breathing of course tough times that they all went through.. so she would of course always check if she was breathing no matter where they went and how she grew..if they drove in the car she would always turn around and check on her while she was in the car seat and ask if she is okay and breathing.. when the little girl was about 4 yrs old my friend turned around to check as it had become a habit..before she could say anything her daughter said to her.. "Ja mamma ek asem nog.."[emoji5]

 

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

Awwww... shame man.  Just goes to show the extent of trauma and stress parents of these little miracles go through.

[2bliss]

Lemme hear a whoop-whoop!!!   Bunny is hopping over from NICU (neonatal ICU) to PICU (peadiatric ICU) today.

 

She is getting three bottle feeds per day now and Mum got to give one for the first time!  Complete closure of the hole in her heart has been confirmed by ultrasound and the ophthalmologist says there are no detectable abnormalities in her eyes.  They have been checking and rechecking her eyes, but she was too small to say for sure with previous examinations.

[Escapee..]

Lemme hear a whoop-whoop!!!   Bunny is hopping over from NICU (neonatal ICU) to PICU (peadiatric ICU) today.

 

She is getting three bottle feeds per day now and Mum got to give one for the first time!  Complete closure of the hole in her heart has been confirmed by ultrasound and the ophthalmologist says there are no detectable abnormalities in her eyes.  They have been checking and rechecking her eyes, but she was too small to say for sure with previous examinations.

 

AWESOME NEWS!!!

[RSR]

Great stuff !!!!! ????

[Andrew Steer]

Lemme hear a whoop-whoop!!!   Bunny is hopping over from NICU (neonatal ICU) to PICU (peadiatric ICU) today.

 

She is getting three bottle feeds per day now and Mum got to give one for the first time!  Complete closure of the hole in her heart has been confirmed by ultrasound and the ophthalmologist says there are no detectable abnormalities in her eyes.  They have been checking and rechecking her eyes, but she was too small to say for sure with previous examinations.

Weekend made 

[nickgreyling]

Best news of the week....

[mtgoat]

Brilliant!!!!

[Jinga]

Fantastic news

[Odinson]

I had a preemie once. My wife wasn't very impressed. 

 

 

 

 

(just kidding - it's Friday)

[Cycle East]

Over the past two months I've received PMs from quite a number of Hubbers who had their babies born prematurely.  Did a quick Google search and it turns out the estimated rate of preterm birth in SA is 14% (and on the rise)!  I had no idea it happens so frequently.    Granted, not all are very premature like Bunny.

 

Question for preemie parents (please PM if you do not wish to respond publicly):  How to cope with the anxiety associated with taking home a tiny 2 kg baby with a history of intermittent apnoea and the increased risk of SIDS all preemies face?  Do you buy a monitor for pulse rate and blood oxygen?  Do you take a chance with a monitor based on movement?  Do you take turns sleeping and watching baby?  Do you just trust / believe all will be well?

 

(We've already ensured Bunny will be sleeping in Halo^R swaddle sleeping bags - no loose blankets near her sweet face!)

 

EDIT: Let's have a "like" for NICU awareness month (September) http://www.nicuawareness.org/

As a proud parent of two preemie children (29 and 34 weeks) the first week home was very stressful, but got better as the days went on. The months we spent in the NICU, we watched the nurses and how they handled the different situations and also learnt infant CPR incase it was needed. The key advise we got was that one parent needed to be rested as two tired minds would battle to make decisions in a case of an emergency. We stuck to the same routine that they had in the NICU (feeds, sleep and bath) as it minimized the stress of the change in environment. We use the Angel Care Monitors and they have been great. We opted to avoid the video option of these monitors as we would of spent our lives staring at the screen. You will eventually become immune to the beeping sound emitting from the monitor. Also remember to ensure that the mat is repositioned correctly when changing the linen as it can cause some heart in the throat moments when the alarm goes off.

At the end of the day we trusted that all would be well, as the doctors and nurses would not let a child leave the hospital if they felt it was not ready. As I said to my wife during an emotional evening the night before our daughter came home, was that she had fought so hard to come home to us, why would she give up when she got there?

On the day you finally leave the hospital, will be the best day ever.