GTKY, anyone?

[phillygal34]

Jan 29, 2015 16:04:39 GMT -5 sahara78 said:

Feeling guilty that I may have messed her up for life because I couldn't carry her full-term.

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I struggled with guilt a lot. Look at it this way. Your body saved her by making sure you knew it was time to deliver. The alternative could have been worse. You did an amazing job. Hugs

[meladorie]

Feb 2, 2015 21:22:52 GMT -5 phillygal34 said:

Jan 26, 2015 21:11:59 GMT -5 meladorie said:

So how much wine is safe to drink between pumpings? I feel extra paranoid drinking wine knowing he's so tiny but damn, I need to destress!

I had a few beers. I would drink right after I fed or pumped. My LC said it was fine. Clearly I wasn't binge drinking but damn I needed a beer some nights!

I asked my LC and she got super judgy and said I can't safely have ANY and then implied that it was my fault that he had a few desats. I know she was just being a bitch but it got me paranoid. I do plan to have a drink tonight and then pump 3 hours later AND dump it.

[3littleones]

Feb 2, 2015 22:04:04 GMT -5 meladorie said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:22:52 GMT -5 phillygal34 said:

I had a few beers. I would drink right after I fed or pumped. My LC said it was fine. Clearly I wasn't binge drinking but damn I needed a beer some nights!

I asked my LC and she got super judgy and said I can't safely have ANY and then implied that it was my fault that he had a few desats. I know she was just being a bitch but it got me paranoid. I do plan to have a drink tonight and then pump 3 hours later AND dump it.

I've been told an hour a drink and a glass of wine is fine.

[phillygal34]

Feb 2, 2015 22:04:04 GMT -5 meladorie said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:22:52 GMT -5 phillygal34 said:

I had a few beers. I would drink right after I fed or pumped. My LC said it was fine. Clearly I wasn't binge drinking but damn I needed a beer some nights!

I asked my LC and she got super judgy and said I can't safely have ANY and then implied that it was my fault that he had a few desats. I know she was just being a bitch but it got me paranoid. I do plan to have a drink tonight and then pump 3 hours later AND dump it.

Well she's a jerk. If you only have one drink I don't think you have to dump but if I were you I would just pump a little do you don't waste a ton. Hugs and enjoy that drink!!!

[mmooki]

1. Dd was born at 33+3 and Ds was born at 35+2

2. Just these 2!

3. Favorite color is green!

4. Favorite thing about a preemie is seeing my kids, dd mainly, be successful. Sure she is a bit small but she is fearless and will try just about anything.

5. Totally free vacation? Australia or Hawaii

6. Biggest challenge is getting people to understand that while my babies were large for gestational age, they still are preemies and sometimes I need to take certain precautions. Not so much with dd. But Ds is just 6 weeks old and no I will not visit a nursing home that was on quarantine for the flu!

[m4dalice]

What GA was LO born at? 28 weeks and 1 day
Do you have any other kids? Nope he is our first
What's your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite thing about having a preemie? So far through everything my favorite part has been the fact that when I am holding him no one bothers me, it's just us no interruptions
If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go? That's hard, I think I would go back to Key West for a while
What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie? I'm not sure just yet

[jwill]

Jan 26, 2015 20:01:47 GMT -5 theycallmekveld said:

I know we have mix of active posters from The Place That Shall Not Be named, some lurkers, and maybe some newbies, so how about a GTKY? Tell us a little about yourself and your preemie (or micro-preemie, as the case may be). 

What GA was LO born at?  34 weeks on Feb 14 2014

Do you have any other kids? Currently 2 foster children but not biological 

What's your favorite color?  Pink

What is your favorite thing about having a preemie? It is all just part of her story

If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go? Hiking in glacier national park  if it were sommer.....now I guess hawaii

What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie? 
Struggling to meet milestones and not knowing why

Feel free to answer all of these, some of these, make up your own, yada yada yada. I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone!

[theycallmekveld]

Feb 2, 2015 22:04:04 GMT -5 meladorie said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:22:52 GMT -5 phillygal34 said:

I had a few beers. I would drink right after I fed or pumped. My LC said it was fine. Clearly I wasn't binge drinking but damn I needed a beer some nights!

I asked my LC and she got super judgy and said I can't safely have ANY and then implied that it was my fault that he had a few desats. I know she was just being a bitch but it got me paranoid. I do plan to have a drink tonight and then pump 3 hours later AND dump it.

She said what now? I need a name and a description, please.

[mosy]

What GA was LO born at?
33w5d
Do you have any other kids?
no
What's your favorite color?
green
What is your favorite thing about having a preemie?
it makes all of his milestones extra special to me
If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go?
Bora Bora
What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie? getting him to eat solids was tough, but we worked with EI and that was very helpful

[irishvodkagrl]

What GA was LO born at?
My twin boys were born 1 week ago at 30w3d.

Other kids?
No. FTM here

Favorite color?
Blue

Favorite thing about having a preemie?
I'm still brand new to this but kangaroo time is pretty much the best thing ever.

Week of free vacation?
This sounds lame but I would go to Stone Harbor NJ. We go every summer and have since I was 2 weeks old. It is my happy place.

Biggest challenge faced?
Balancing my husband's work schedule, NICU visits, pumping, and life. I'm still figuring it all out.

[capekanga]

Hi! Hope you all don't mind if I join in the conversation? I come from the "other place", but was not previously a member of this particular group. Just looking for discussion and to offer support for other premie moms.

What GA was LO born at? My son was born at 35 + 3. My water broke at my out of town baby shower and he was born just 4 hours later.

Do you have any other kids? Just a fur child, yellow lab

What's your favorite color? Yellow

What is your favorite thing about having a preemie? I loved how snugly he was/ still is. I wore him non-stop for months and still wear him often at 9 months. He is a total koala.

If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go? I love Hawaii

What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie? GERD-- he screamed any time he wasn't sleeping for months until we got the correct medications.

[magalinah]

What GA was LO born at? 34w2d
Do you have any other kids? No, this is our first
What's your favorite color? Purple and teal. 
What is your favorite thing about having a preemie? I wouldn't say that I have a favorite thing about having a preemie.  My favorite thing about having my son here is getting to finally see his face and kiss his cheeks.  I love cuddling with him after he finishes eating.  
If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go? Europe-France, Italy, Germany or to South Korea
What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie? The unknown and waiting.  I hate not having a game plan or an end in sight.  I hate being away from my husband while I stay with DS in the Nicu.  I hate the isolation and monotony that comes with being NICU bound.  I know that I could leave and go out and do things (which I have done on occasion), but I equally hate leaving my son here by himself. 

[meladorie]

Mar 16, 2015 22:29:15 GMT -5 magalinah said:

What GA was LO born at? 34w2d
Do you have any other kids? No, this is our first
What's your favorite color? Purple and teal. 
What is your favorite thing about having a preemie? I wouldn't say that I have a favorite thing about having a preemie.  My favorite thing about having my son here is getting to finally see his face and kiss his cheeks.  I love cuddling with him after he finishes eating.  
If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go? Europe-France, Italy, Germany or to South Korea
What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie? The unknown and waiting.  I hate not having a game plan or an end in sight.  I hate being away from my husband while I stay with DS in the Nicu.  I hate the isolation and monotony that comes with being NICU bound.  I know that I could leave and go out and do things (which I have done on occasion), but I equally hate leaving my son here by himself. 

I totally relate to all those challenges. Do you live near the NICU? One thing that I found helped was to get lunch with my husband. On his lunch break he would pop in and say hi to DS and then we would go get lunch together - sometimes somewhere nice and sometimes just the hospital cafeteria.

[magalinah]

Mar 17, 2015 11:10:43 GMT -5 meladorie said:

Mar 16, 2015 22:29:15 GMT -5 magalinah said:

What GA was LO born at? 34w2d
Do you have any other kids? No, this is our first
What's your favorite color? Purple and teal. 
What is your favorite thing about having a preemie? I wouldn't say that I have a favorite thing about having a preemie.  My favorite thing about having my son here is getting to finally see his face and kiss his cheeks.  I love cuddling with him after he finishes eating.  
If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go? Europe-France, Italy, Germany or to South Korea
What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie? The unknown and waiting.  I hate not having a game plan or an end in sight.  I hate being away from my husband while I stay with DS in the Nicu.  I hate the isolation and monotony that comes with being NICU bound.  I know that I could leave and go out and do things (which I have done on occasion), but I equally hate leaving my son here by himself. 

I totally relate to all those challenges. Do you live near the NICU? One thing that I found helped was to get lunch with my husband. On his lunch break he would pop in and say hi to DS and then we would go get lunch together - sometimes somewhere nice and sometimes just the hospital cafeteria.

Yes. We only live about 20min from the hospital. DH spends at least 1 meal at the hospital with me, sometimes 2. I've also gone home every 2 days to take a shower, see the dogs, and just get out for a bit. Good news is that we have an anticipated discharge date of Friday, as long as DS keeps up his feeds over the next 48 hours. It's going to be the longest 2 days of my life!

[meladorie]

Mar 18, 2015 19:47:34 GMT -5 magalinah said:

Mar 17, 2015 11:10:43 GMT -5 meladorie said:

I totally relate to all those challenges. Do you live near the NICU? One thing that I found helped was to get lunch with my husband. On his lunch break he would pop in and say hi to DS and then we would go get lunch together - sometimes somewhere nice and sometimes just the hospital cafeteria.

Yes. We only live about 20min from the hospital. DH spends at least 1 meal at the hospital with me, sometimes 2. I've also gone home every 2 days to take a shower, see the dogs, and just get out for a bit. Good news is that we have an anticipated discharge date of Friday, as long as DS keeps up his feeds over the next 48 hours. It's going to be the longest 2 days of my life!

FX he keeps up his feeds and comes home Friday!!

[irishvodkagrl]

magalinah That is great news! I'll keep everything crossed for him

[createmagic14]

Feb 1, 2015 12:27:55 GMT -5 sstites26 said:

I hope it's ok if I resurrect this thread.  I'm trying to hop back into the boards.  I was fairly active in M15 at the other place.

What GA was LO born at?
33w5d

Do you have any other kids?
No

What's your favorite color?
Turquoise 

What is your favorite thing about having a preemie?
Its strange, but as hard as the first days were in the NICU, I was able o hole him quite a bit and bond. I'll always cherish the safe, quiet alone time we started with.


If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go?
Greece

What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie?
We've has pretty smooth sailing.  Theo was in the NICU for 11 days, mainly for monitoring and growing and has been great since we've been home.  I have a friend with a daughter 3 hours older than him though, and it's hard to see her already smiling and interacting a little, while Theo is just not there yet.

[jense927]

@blackpearl08, Welcome! Congrats on the birth of your DS. Hope you have a short and uneventful NICU stay.

[fikmama1986]

Hi, I'm new to the preemie board. My son was born 4/3/15.

What GA was LO born at?
He was born at 33 weeks 0 days

Do you have any other kids?
I have 2 step kids, a boy aged 9 and a girl aged 7. They are struggling to understand why the baby isn't home with them yet and why they don't get to see him much.

What's your favorite color?
Blue or green.

What is your favorite thing about having a preemie?
I don't know that I have a favorite part yet. He's been in the NICU 8 days now. He's off of O2, IV's, the warmer and now we need to get him eating orally. We just started trying bottles a couple of days ago and he's pretty sporadic. He'll take anything from 5cc-17cc at this point.

If you had a week of totally free vacation, where would you go?
I would go to Italy or Ireland.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced with your preemie?
The fact that he was completely unexpected as a preemie. Everything was fine up until a 2 week appointment. From there I was told to get the hospital for monitoring for preeclampsia and within 48 hours, Ethan went from an 8/8 on his biophysical profile to 2/8 and me being told he has to be taken NOW! I feel completely unprepared and am terrified that he might not succeed in life because my body couldn't provide the environment he needed for a full term. I had a mini-breakdown on this topic today while at the store with my husband. All he has left is learning to feed but it seems like he's so far from coming home.

I also struggle with splitting time between my kids. I was in the hospital for 9 days and didn't get to see my step kids for more than an hour. Now I'm home but feel like I can't leave my son in NICU and it means the other 2 don't get as much of me.

[magalinah]

fikmama1986 we also had a completely unexpected preemie and named him Ethan he was born at 34w2d and once he was off of ivs, all we had left was learning to eat too. I remember feeling the same way as you-that it was so far away based on the expectations the nicu had for him to be discharged.

It took almost exactly one week for him to be eating consistently from a bottle or my breast. At one point he was only eating about 10-20ml per feeding and they wanted him at 40. They ended up putting in an ng gavage tube to help him get up there and I had a breakdown because 2 feedings in a row he got all of his milk through that. I was convinced then that he'd never learn how to eat. Each day we kept at it and by the time we left he was eating 60ml per feeding without a problem (we were in the nicu for 18 days). I promise you it will get better and he will figure it out. All of the nurses told us that we just needed to be patient and one day it will just "click", and they were right. Good luck to you guys. I hope your Ethan is eating well and out of the nicu soon!

[fikmama1986]

Apr 12, 2015 18:31:41 GMT -5 magalinah said:

fikmama1986 we also had a completely unexpected preemie and named him Ethan he was born at 34w2d and once he was off of ivs, all we had left was learning to eat too. I remember feeling the same way as you-that it was so far away based on the expectations the nicu had for him to be discharged.

It took almost exactly one week for him to be eating consistently from a bottle or my breast. At one point he was only eating about 10-20ml per feeding and they wanted him at 40. They ended up putting in an ng gavage tube to help him get up there and I had a breakdown because 2 feedings in a row he got all of his milk through that. I was convinced then that he'd never learn how to eat. Each day we kept at it and by the time we left he was eating 60ml per feeding without a problem (we were in the nicu for 18 days). I promise you it will get better and he will figure it out. All of the nurses told us that we just needed to be patient and one day it will just "click", and they were right. Good luck to you guys. I hope your Ethan is eating well and out of the nicu soon!

Thank you so much.  

Feeding has been frustrating for me so far.  I started crying last night when he spit up almost all of his feed for the first time.  He's so small he can't afford to lose any calories!

Thank you for your story.  I feel really alone at this point and like I failed my baby by not giving him the time he needed to be ready to come out of the womb.  I'm very happy to hear that your Ethan was able to come home within a couple of weeks!  That's wonderful   How has he been doing?  Hitting milestones?  What was it like to transition home?

[magalinah]

Apr 13, 2015 6:46:09 GMT -5 fikmama1986 said:

Thank you so much.  

Feeding has been frustrating for me so far.  I started crying last night when he spit up almost all of his feed for the first time.  He's so small he can't afford to lose any calories!

Thank you for your story.  I feel really alone at this point and like I failed my baby by not giving him the time he needed to be ready to come out of the womb.  I'm very happy to hear that your Ethan was able to come home within a couple of weeks!  That's wonderful   How has he been doing?  Hitting milestones?  What was it like to transition home?

I know it's easier said than done, but don't blame yourself for Ethan's early delivery. There's nothing you did wrong or could have done differently to prevent it. He was born at the exact right time for him. My doctor pointed out that it probably would have been worse for me or Ethan if he'd been born later, which is why my body put itself into labor.

We've been home now for 3 weeks, and it's been a much easier transition than I anticipated. He's sleeping and eating well, and really is such an easy baby. He's on an iron supplement that he takes mixed with my milk through a bottle once a day and any other bottles he gets are fortified with a 22 calorie formula (neosure). We've had 2 peds appointments and he's gaining weight well and doing great! He's also able to hold his head up when he's in his stomach.

I think the craziest thing is that he's already 5.5 weeks old and his due date is Wednesday!

[fikmama1986]

Apr 13, 2015 18:23:07 GMT -5 @blackpearl08 said:

fikmama1986, I nodded my head at everything magalinah said. We had a 17 day NICU stay and things seemed to just click for Miles with the feeding as we got closer to 35/36 weeks which is when all of those things are fully formed in the womb.

I just have to keep reminding myself of that @blackpearl08.   In all honesty, he's doing really well so far and he's gaining weight little by little.  He took one entire bottle orally Sunday night.  So that was really exciting to hear!  He's 34 weeks 4 days now and going back and forth from the NICU 4-ish times per day has really been taking a toll at this point.  I had to have my husband go to the 8 o'clock feed alone last night because I was so exhausted that my BP was going all crazy and I was starting to feel queasy from lack of sleep.  Have you struggled with that as well?  Any advice?

I'm so happy to hear that Miles is back home and I'm assuming is doing well!   How was transitioning?  

[meladorie]

Apr 14, 2015 6:45:56 GMT -5 fikmama1986 said:

Apr 13, 2015 18:23:07 GMT -5 @blackpearl08 said:

fikmama1986, I nodded my head at everything magalinah said. We had a 17 day NICU stay and things seemed to just click for Miles with the feeding as we got closer to 35/36 weeks which is when all of those things are fully formed in the womb.

I just have to keep reminding myself of that @blackpearl08.   In all honesty, he's doing really well so far and he's gaining weight little by little.  He took one entire bottle orally Sunday night.  So that was really exciting to hear!  He's 34 weeks 4 days now and going back and forth from the NICU 4-ish times per day has really been taking a toll at this point.  I had to have my husband go to the 8 o'clock feed alone last night because I was so exhausted that my BP was going all crazy and I was starting to feel queasy from lack of sleep.  Have you struggled with that as well?  Any advice?

I'm so happy to hear that Miles is back home and I'm assuming is doing well!   How was transitioning?  

A whole bottle at that age is awesome! It sounds like he's really learning fast. Feeding was what held us up too but it took Liam several weeks to start to get it. He didn't take his first full oral feeding until like 36 weeks. The wait sucks but it'll be over soon.

[fikmama1986]

Apr 15, 2015 20:48:23 GMT -5 meladorie said:

Apr 14, 2015 6:45:56 GMT -5 fikmama1986 said:

I just have to keep reminding myself of that @blackpearl08.   In all honesty, he's doing really well so far and he's gaining weight little by little.  He took one entire bottle orally Sunday night.  So that was really exciting to hear!  He's 34 weeks 4 days now and going back and forth from the NICU 4-ish times per day has really been taking a toll at this point.  I had to have my husband go to the 8 o'clock feed alone last night because I was so exhausted that my BP was going all crazy and I was starting to feel queasy from lack of sleep.  Have you struggled with that as well?  Any advice?

I'm so happy to hear that Miles is back home and I'm assuming is doing well!   How was transitioning?  

A whole bottle at that age is awesome! It sounds like he's really learning fast. Feeding was what held us up too but it took Liam several weeks to start to get it. He didn't take his first full oral feeding until like 36 weeks. The wait sucks but it'll be over soon.

He's only taken the full bottle once but he does take at least some milk at each feeding. I'm thankful that he is gaining weight and trying to eat orally. I know he will be physically fine. He already pushes his head up and tried to look around when he's on my shoulder or chest. So I'm counting that as a good sign. I'm more concerned with his cognitive development at this point. But I'm probably being paranoid