Tell me your stories of your 28-30 weekers

@kimhimmel my twins were born after a non-reassuring scan, one of them was having weird dips in his heart rate, which later turned out to be due to a true knot in his cord. i had been being monitored intensely anyway because of absent end diastolic flow on the other twin. i'd been given the steroids and everything. i had also had a cerclage placed earlier after my 20 week scan showed funneling, and it held thankfully. emergent c-section under general at 28+6. they weighed 2 and 3 lbs. i don't know what their APGAR scores were, i actually don't think the 2 lb guy even got one? they were pretty busy in the delivery room i guess. i don't know, i was asleep. i didn't see them for 2 days because i couldn't walk or think clearly. but my husband went up to the NICU and sent me back pictures and everything. they ended up having a pretty smooth time in the NICU. they went right to CPAP and didn't need the more intense support and stayed on CPAP gradually being lowered down until right around when they came home. a couple times we were on "poop watch" scared of NEC but they didn't have it, just random blood, didn't mean anything. they didn't have any brain bleeds or other problems like that. one of them had a small PDA that later closed on its own. they both came home with ingual hernias they had surgery for at 6 months adjusted. they came home a little before their due date with no supports or anything. the 2 lb guy stayed less than a week longer than his "big" brother. they've had to be in early intervention since they came home, they qualified automatically, and honestly i wish we could drop out of it since they've been hitting all their milestones perfectly, but the lady says it would be really difficult to re-enroll them later if a problem arose, so we're just having them come once a month and kind of play with them and then leave. the smaller guy has higher muscle tone than his brother but no movement issues so they think he might just be naturally kind of a tenser guy. but he can get around just fine, in fact he crawled weeks before his brother. if it ends up being CP, it will be "mild" (i know that's not really an applicable diagnostic term) he also had to have a helmet because of a flat head because he was so motionless in his sleep and slept a LOT but the helmet is off now and in hindsight it was really no big deal. they had regular eye exams every month until they were finally cleared, they don't have ROP or any other eye problems. the PDA closed on its own like i mentioned, we had to have that checked by echocardiogram when they were about 5 months adjusted. so yeah- two hernia surgeries and a helmet, but other than that, nothing dramatic. just had to figure out eating and get big enough to breathe on their own and now they're totally normal babies trying to pull the cat's tail all the time
 
@kimhimmel
  1. Their birth weight and gestational age, and single or multiple

    She was born at 28+6, weighing in at 2 lbs 14 ozs.
  2. The reason and circumstance of their premature birth (e.g. planned delivery versus emergency, pre-e, PPROM, etc.), including if the birth parent was able to receive steroid shots/magnesium drip in advance or not
I was in the hospital for four days before I gave birth. I went in experiencing what I thought were braxton hicks, but it turned out to be actual contractions. I was 4cm dilated by the time I was admitted. I've never been told why I went into labor so early.
  1. Their progression with breathing support over time
She started out on a cpap, and after a week or two went to a high flow nasal cannula. This didn't work out and she remained on a cpap up until 33 weeks.
  1. Their progression with feeding over time
She was fed through the tube for awhile, and at 32 or 33 weeks they started having us practice at the breast. Around this time they also introduced bottle feeding which she excelled at. The breast took us a while to master.
  1. Any major setbacks or complications, when those happened, and how they were resolved
After the first week or two of life, she had trouble keeping her oxygen up which resulted in a blood transfusion. Around 33 weeks she got really sick and they ended up quarantining her. You had to wear PPE when you around her. They took blood tests, but everything they searched for came back negative. They never found the cause, and she got better after the first couple of days.
  1. How many days until discharge and what their criteria for coming home were
We were only in the NICU for 45 days. She had to go five days without having any episodes and be at least 35 weeks gestational.
  1. Any ongoing issues since coming home related to their prematurity, and how you’ve been managing those
After we were released, they set us up with a physical therapist that we saw monthly. She kept us on track with milestones according to her adjusted age. We also had to combo feed in the first few months to ensure that she was gaining the appropriate amount of weight. We met with a cardiologist once a year to check up on a heart murmur as well as a pulmonary brachial stenosis. The stenosis is now in a normal range so we only have to check up with the cardiologist once every two years. At 1.5 years of age we began speech therapy, which has done wonders for her vocabulary.
 
@dpt2014 Wow she was a good size for her gestational age, that must’ve helped. I can’t believe how scary it must’ve been for you though to go through her having a mystery illness.
 
@kimhimmel I was in the hospital for 5 weeks and 2 days (admitted at 23+5) and had my baby girl exactly at 29 weeks on Feb 23. She was born at 2lbs 10.5 oz. I was given magnesium and the steroid shot when I was admitted and then again 24 hrs leading up to the c section and was on mag during the c section and 24 hours after. Thankfully, the mag didn’t have a big effect on me. I was admitted for high BP over 160. When I came into the hospital I never imagined I wouldn’t leave till she was born. My labs were fine and there was no protein in my urine. However, I had to be on various levels of BP meds throughout my stay and eventually my liver enzymes started to increase and my platelets started to decrease. It wasn’t anything too crazy but the drs said I needed to deliver the next day and I asked if we could extend one more day to just hit 29 weeks as that was somewhat symbolic for me every week I made it.

The good news is that baby girl came out kicking and screaming and she never had to be on anything but CPAP at the lowest amount and she kept even taking out those tubes and did ok. The drs wanted her to keep the CPAP till at least 32 weeks but a few days before took her off since the tubes were usually out anyway and her oxygen levels were still ok. They also said they wanted to start trying a bottle with her at 34 weeks and yet again she seemed ready early with ducking her paci so we got to do it last night at 33+4! She did great on her first bottle! She’s still in the NICU now but she’s up to 4lbs 2.9 oz! So far it’s all been really good. Her eye exam was normal today and her brain scan a few weeks ago was also normal. We have a ways to go before coming home as she needs to grow more and learn to feed but so far so good and we are so thankful for that.
 
@kimhimmel Yes! Currently watching her sleep. She came home just over 36 weeks two Mondays ago. She started bottle feeding just under 34 weeks and really took well to it. She does spit up quite often at home but nothing the dr seemed worried about. She had an appt a couple of weeks ago and was 6lbs 11.5 oz! How are things going for you and your little one?
 
@kiwiatheist Wonderful! How many days total was her stay? So glad you’re home and that she took to the bottle so fast. And great weight gain!

Our little dragon was born at 29+0 and is now 34+2, doing well. On the boring road which is good. Haven’t been able to start oral feeds yet as he has terrible reflux so still on extended feeds… hoping to be able to get past that soon!
 
@kimhimmel 28-5. PPROM. Wife was in hospital for 3 weeks so did receive shots. His feeding was the last milestone for him to achieve and we worked on it from week 32-33 until discharge at 42.

His breathing was “normal”. Intubated for a day and then high flow, low flow, and room air. He went on room air around week 37-38. He had two level 2 bilateral brain bleeds but they posed no issues.

No complications other than a UTI infection that was resolved easily with antibiotics. He went home after 91 days and we havent had any issues other than his feeding being wonky but he is thriving so far for his adjusted age.

Although my son was born super early, he really didn’t have any major issues. He would destat for a while during feeds, etc, but it was normal under the circumstances.

Good luck and PATIENCE! Remember that your LO is already here and in the place where they’re supposed to be.
 
@kimhimmel
  1. 28+3, 1145g (2lb 8oz), single
  2. I had a cerclage placed due to short cervix and went into early labor at 27 weeks, they were able to stop it for 8 days but could no longer give me anymore medication, snipped my cerclage and she was born within 30 minutes, naturally and still in her sac since my water never broke. Don’t really know why I went into preterm labor, never really could find a definitive answer. I got 2 steroid shots and was on magnesium the entire 8 days.
  3. She was on cpap, then SiPap, then tried cpap again, ended up back on SiPap, moved to cpap eventually, then tried high flow, lasted about 6 hours but moved back to cpap, eventually went back to high flow for about a week and then came off at 34 weeks.
  4. At 36 weeks she had a week she took every bottle by mouth and we were working on bringing discharged but then she started having big nightly Brady events and stopped taking full bottles so we are currently back with the tube.
  5. We had a NEC scare and had to have 7 days of antibiotics and nutrition through a PICC.
  6. Currently day 64 with no end in sight.
 
@gasman Yikes. I’m sorry that the road remains long for you (also what a wild birth story). I hope her remaining issues resolve quickly and that you can go home soon.
 
@kimhimmel Fellow pre-e mom here! Congratulations and hang in there 💞
  1. 30 weeks, 1370 grams (3 lbs), single
  2. Pre-e, received two steroid shots and mag drip
  3. Started on CPAP room air, intubated on day 3 extubated on day 4. Back on CPAP until day 8. Did well breathing on his own for a while but then got an infection (staph aureus) and had trouble breathing. Back on CPAP from day 17-23. Off CPAP on day 23 (33 weeks) and never needed any respiratory support after that.
  4. Started breastfeeding on day 30 (34 weeks) using nipple shield. Introduced bottle 3 days later. Gradual increase of oral feeding over the next 3 weeks — his pattern was one great day, one slow day right up until the end. NG tube out at 37 weeks, taking 100% of feeds orally, discharged 2 days later.
  5. Only major set back was the bacterial infection mentioned above. Affected his breathing and caused some spit ups. Had to remove original PICC line and insert a new one. 14 day course of antibiotics. Did lumbar puncture and heart echo and all came back normal.
  6. Discharged after 51 days (37+2 weeks). Criteria was no spells and must take 100% of feeds orally. Plus had to be over a certain weight (I think 4lbs) and maintain it. He was 2890g (6.4lbs).
  7. We’ve been home for 5 weeks now and no issues with bub! Struggled with breastfeeding so gave up on that. Still pumping but my supply didn’t increase to match his growing needs so supplementing with formula (which was recommended anyway for extra calories and nutrients). He is gaining weight consistently!
Best of luck to you and your family! 🤗
 
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