27 Weeks 1 Day

[mtol118]

Well the placental insufficiency got worse and Tessa Marie decided to come into the world early. She was born 2:02 PM 1 lbs 2 oz a 11 in long. She is doing great and just a tiny bit small. I had to wait forever to see her due to pain during delivery but she was worth the wait. Sounds like I’ll be able to touch her in 3 days which seems so far away. I’m doing great with pain now and so far just been taking Tylenol.

Tessa Marie

 

[thisrandomguy]

@mtol118 Congrats on your little bundle! I can’t wait to hear about your first snuggles

 

[frank69]

@mtol118 Enjoy every second of skin to skin in the NICU when you can. It’s so beneficial. And pump as much as you can!! Your babe will need it to grow big and strong. Congrats mama.

 

[mtol118]

@frank69 I want skin to skin do bad but we halve right wait 72 hours. They recommended pumping every 3 hours and I was shocked to get some colostrum with my second pump.

 

[fl_gentleman]

@mtol118 I found hand expressing to be more effective at getting colostrum out. The pump just chafed to start with haha! Good luck!

 

[mslady63]

@mtol118 Congrats, she’s beautiful! We’re currently in NICU with our 26 weeker (now 32) waiting on a transfer to our home town SCN. Every day is hard, but the fear of something going wrong gets less each day. They also start to look more human as they become chubby bubbies!

 

[connorsneddon]

@mtol118 Congrats on your beautiful baby! My 27+2 weeker was born in December and will be home very soon. Preemies are so strong!

 

[scottmcc2]

@mtol118 Congratulations! I had a 27+4 weeker born this past July. She’s doing wonderful and is healthy!
We had a 99 day nicu stay. Best wishes to you all!

 

[sjcargill]

@mtol118 She's beautiful!

 

[luris]

@mtol118 Congratulations! It's a tough journey but it's so worthwhile❤

 

[davoarid]

@mtol118 Beautiful girl love & positivity from Oregon

 

[mtol118]

Daddy got to lift her today for a diaper change and I’ll get to later tonight. Baby girl is doing amazing and only real issue is jaundice which they put the light on to help her. Thursday can’t come soon enough, I want to hold her so bad.

 

[mtol118]

Thank you for all the tips. I’m looking for recommendations. Did you have family visit your babies when they were young. We’ve had our parents and hubby’s sister. I want my best friend (like a sister) but his aunts/uncles and cousins want to come. I know we can bring 2 in at a time with a max of 3 people there but I don’t want to annoy the nurses. Also what do you do about your hospital bands, we were told we needed ours to be able to see her (they have our IDs also). Honestly keeping a bracelet on for 7 weeks feels icky and I messed mine up some so it can slide on and off.

We learned rounds are at 10 and they do diaper changes/baby checks at 3am, 9am, 3pm and 9pm. Right now they’ll let us lift her for the checks while they place things down so we’re hitting as many of them as we can. Going home we won’t be able to hit the 3am and most likely the 9pm, but by then we can do skin to skin sometimes.

 

[zackjohnson922]

@mtol118 Personally, I would limit visitors to be respectful of the other families in the NICU, especially with the current public health scare going on. I would have been very frustrated if the baby next to us had a constant stream of visitors. I would have stressed a lot about germs.

I would be surprised if you are even able to have that many people come into the nursery to visit. Our NICU, when not on flu lock down, only allowed 4 non-parents to visit. You choose them at the beginning, and can't swap out. So if you choose grandma and grandpa, uncle and aunt - those are the only visitors baby can have for their entire stay. Non-family visitors were not allowed to be selected, and no minors.

 

[dallasthomas]

@mtol118 Now with COVID-19, they might start restricting the number of visitors depending on where you live. But if you’re cool with multiple visitors, don’t worry about what others think. It’s your baby and your well-being. And don’t be afraid to tell people to visit another time. Sometimes it can make you feel even more exhausted trying to cater to others.

As far as the hospital bands, I’ve had mine on for weeks at a time and it doesn’t get as dirty as one would think. You end up washing it as you wash your hands.

And for the visits, do what you can. Don’t feel guilty if you miss one and don’t feel pressured to go to all of the touch times. Make sure to take care of yourself first. Your baby girl is in good hands and is constantly being monitored. It’s great that you’re touching her when you do visit. Any interaction is good for her. Kangaroo care is proven to help with their breathing and progression.

The best thing you can do is continue to ask questions to your nurses, doctors, and support groups like this. Best wishes!