Proud Premies

if anyone wants to be a group admin and keep this group active, let me know and I will make you the admin.

Today my son turns 1!!!  A great milestone for my little premie.  He is doing everything that a normal 1 year old should be doing and I'm so happy and proud of him for all that he has accomplished.  We made it thru the first year with no problems (except his eating), which is wonderful.  He eating is great and he is packing on the ounces, though burning much of them cause he is so active!  What did you do to celebrate this special day?  Or what would like to do to celebrate it?

They say my little girl has only grown 2cm in 13 months.......They say that is a very slow rate. She will have to get further test done. Yes she is tiny but im not a tall person myself.  Yes her sister that is a year younger than her is the same height but she was born only 2 weeks early and small to average weight.

I dont seemed to be to concerned but the docs and health nurse are. Im proud of her and she is learning at a good rate so im not going to let it bother me. After all she was a prem baby.

Tee

Something I wanted to ask is has any one every had a issue with weight gain?  My son has jumped from the 15% up to over 50% since his last check-up.  He is 7months.  How ever his weight has gone from the 10% to below the 3%, putting in a possible "failure to thrive" diagnosis.  Thing is, to me he looks fine.  Skinny, but very alert, strong and ahead for all the miles stones.  He was 5 weeks early, so he would really be 6months now, and he is doing things that a 8-9month old would be doing. 

So the quesiton is, how normal is this trend and is this more for premies, or can it be for any baby?  Doc wants to see him next month to see how much weight he has gained...But I just don't see as how his drop in weight (on the charts) is bad at this point.

When to start solids?  After talking to the doc about this, she advised me that we should hold off on solids unti lmy son is over 6m.  One being that he is a premie, and so this intestinal development is behind other babies his age.  Meaning that since he is 5weeks early, he would have to wait an extra 5 weeks before starting solids.  So instead of say 4m, he would have to be at least 5m, to ensure his stomach and such are developed enough.  Two, because he is of a lower weight it can be harmful if he start solids and is not at a steady weight gain.  Babies can often lose weight when starting solids as they are not hungry as often and thus not eating as much Bmilk or formula...

But I want to know what others have done in reguards to solid food...

While my daughter was in the NICU, she was only 2 weeks early, I got to see alot of premie babies.  It was really hard, but one thing that I really like about it was that they engouraged the mothers to pump their breast milk, or try to breastfeed their babies.  The Lac consultants and nurses all said how important our milk is for premies.  They called it "liquid gold".  And I saw alot of babies, that could drink from a bottle, they were all feed with breastmilk.  It was great to see.  I think that if you are in this situation, and you want to BF, then go for it.  Just because the baby can't nurse right away, as long as they are getting the milk, they will benifit tremendously.  And as they get bigger and stronger you can then try nursing while in the NICU to teach them to BF.  I did this with my baby girl, I brought in the milk and then when she was well enough I breastfeed her.  She did great and the staff was so supportive. 

When I had my boy all the nurses and doctors told me how important it is for him to try to get the breast milk, and I'm glad that I have never had a problem breastfeeding him...but that's not to say it's going to be like this for all mothers.  As long as you are doing what you feel is right, whether it be breastfeeding or formula feeding, you are doing it for your babies health, and that is what is important...And each situation is different as well, so if it's something you want to do, go for it, and the staff should be more then happy to help you.

I know this is a little premature as Im only 9 weeks pregnant, but Im already getting very scared about birth.... Ruby's birth was so traumatic.. Im going to write about it, think it might be therapy. I was 34 weeks pregnant with Ruby and had been feeling unwell for ages, I was getting funny peeling pains from inside. I was brushed off with the 'its stretching pains' from my midwife. Late one night, I suddenly felt huge stabbing stomach pains, awful, as I stood up, a rush of blood flowed out of me.. so much blood, pools of it. Thank god I was at my parents house, they called an ambulance. My husband had to rush home from the job he was doing. Upon arrival at the hospital I was immediately whisked into theatre and my baby was delivered only 3 minutes after they cut into me. I was so scared... the calls of 'Shes not breathing, get her on a ventilator' still go round in my head. My tiny daughter was rushed to intensive care. I was taken to a ward... surrounded by other new mothers giving their newborns a middle of the night feed... One of the intensive care nurses came to see me, she brought a polaroid of my tiny baby, with wires poking out all over her, a ventilator in and bandages round her eyes. It was awful. As Id had a c-section I couldnt even go and see her.. One of the kind nurses told me as soon as I could get out of bed, I could go and see her. I spent the next 12 hours flexing my toes and legs.. crying all the time, determined to go and see her. Ruby stayed in special care for three weeks, she got stronger everyday. I spent a week down in the wards before being discharged and had to face that horrible thing of leaving the hospital without taking my baby home. Ruby's care was amazing, but SCBU was a scary place, all wires and beeping machines. I felt robbed of a normal birth, robbed of the normal bonding process. In fact it affected me so much I actually couldnt bare anyone else hlding her for the first three months of her life... had to stop my self screaming 'No my baby' everytime one of my inlaws wanted to pick her up. So here I am, Ruby's birth was caused by a ruptured placenta.. and Im just so scared that something similar might happen again. I know its mostly irrational, what happened to me was rare and its unlikely to happen again... but I cant stop myself thinking about it...

My big post preemie birth problem is Ruby's allergies, she has terrible reactions to cats, nuts, tomatoes and strawberries, I have to carry an epi pen for her. She has been hospitalised three times for breathing difficulties following an attack. Not sure if its cos she was early or if she'd have them anyway.

I hope to be able to offer advice and friendship to any mum's of preemies, Em xxxx

Ok, a little about my baby boy.  He was born at 35 weeks.  He tried to come out at about 25 weeks.  The doc put me on the tributaline to stop the contractions..They worked until I was about 33 weeks.  Then I started to get them even more, and I started to dialate :(.  I went into the hospital at 34weeks in labor.  Put on Magnesium and given the steroid shot to help his lungs I was there for about a week.  The contractions never stopped and the 35 weeks they did an amnio to check his lungs.  Things looked good, so I was cleared to have him.  Born one day after my girl, she came out screaming and healthy.  Though very tiny, he was very strong.  Though we still have to be careful about him getting sick and he is on the Sinigis shots...

Please pass this group onto anyone you know who has a premie baby and would like to join.  I won't turn away anyone who has had an early arrival...