I just got home from the NICU.... - Page 5

[ApplePieBaby]

Originally Posted by Greaseball

I find it hard to believe that mom can't be there for every feeding.

I have six kids, my youngest is in the NICU a little over an hour away. Being there for every feeding just is not possible for me.

[spero]

Originally Posted by ApplePieBaby

I have six kids, my youngest is in the NICU a little over an hour away. Being there for every feeding just is not possible for me.

Mama. I completely understand. Hope your baby comes home soon.

[ApplePieBaby]

Originally Posted by skellbelle

Mama. I completely understand. Hope your baby comes home soon.

Thanks
She's been there a month... and it probably will be several more before we get to bring her home.

[spero]

- I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this must be for your family. Are you able to store BM for her? Are you nursing any of your children at home?

I was nursing a 2-yo and pumping for my DD, when she was in the NICU. She was also over an hour away. I'm so grateful it was only a week - and that was a LONG week.

How are YOU holding up, mama?

[Lousli]

I'm so sorry ApplePieBaby! I hope your baby is home with you as soon as possible. I only had one other child to care for and it was so hard to try to meet both my girls' needs. I can't imagine 6! Is there anything we can do? Maybe a gc to a local grocery store or restaurant or something?

[ApplePieBaby]

Originally Posted by skellbelle

- I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this must be for your family. Are you able to store BM for her? Are you nursing any of your children at home?

I was nursing a 2-yo and pumping for my DD, when she was in the NICU. She was also over an hour away. I'm so grateful it was only a week - and that was a LONG week.

How are YOU holding up, mama?

I've been pumping, I'm getting about 20 ounces a day... she started feeds two days ago, but after only a couple had to stop, she's not tolerating them well... hopefully she just needs more time to recover from the surgery on her intestines last week. They have some of my milk at the hospital in their freezer, all of my colustrum & some milk... and I have TONS here in our deep freeze.

I'm doing ok, just exhausted LOL

[ApplePieBaby]

Originally Posted by Lousli

I'm so sorry ApplePieBaby! I hope your baby is home with you as soon as possible. I only had one other child to care for and it was so hard to try to meet both my girls' needs. I can't imagine 6! Is there anything we can do? Maybe a gc to a local grocery store or restaurant or something?

Thanks- they said she'll probably come home around her due date- which was 10/10. Of course, I'm hoping for sooner, but I wouldn't be surprised if it took longer.

[jkpmomtoboys]

Originally Posted by ApplePieBaby

Thanks- they said she'll probably come home around her due date- which was 10/10. Of course, I'm hoping for sooner, but I wouldn't be surprised if it took longer.

We are thinking of you. This time is the hardest--keep your chin up and do whatever you have to do to take care of YOU. I cannot emphasize this enough...

As for this thread, it's really old--don't pay any attention to the poster making the inflammatory comments...

[CallMeMommy]

Originally Posted by LBBmom

Bec, I agree with all you've said. I know the NICU isn't perfect, but we do promote breastfeeding 100%. The fact is that most babies in our unit will get bottles at some point because the moms aren't there for every feed. It's just not possible.

I haven't read this thread fully, mostly just skimmed it, but I had to comment on this - my 31-weeker never once recieved a bottle in his entire NICU stay, if I wasn't there to nurse (once he started nursing) he was fed via tube. He did have to have a full day of p.o. feeds and gain weight before he could go home. Why in your NICU do you bottle-feed instead of tube feed in breastfeeding infants? Please don't take that as confrontational, I'm just curous

[spero]

Originally Posted by CallMeMommy

Why in your NICU do you bottle-feed instead of tube feed in breastfeeding infants?

FYI, the NICU my daughter was in does both. The babies usually start out with an NG or OG tube, then graduate to bottle and/or breast. Bottles are used if the mama isn't there (as this thread has indicated, it is difficult for some moms to be with their babe full time), and/or if the baby for some reason can't go to the breast. IMO extended tube feeding isn't optimal, if the baby is able to suckle - and my daughter HATED her OG tube, I couldn't wait to get it out of her!

My DD had a chest tube. Lifting/holding her to nurse compromised the position of the tube - that tube needed to be as stable as possible at all times. She was fed through an OG tube for several days, graduated to a preemie bottle for another day or so (in her warming bed, just elevating her head), and finally got back on the breast (with no trouble, thank goodness).

Honestly - I could have cared less HOW she was fed, as long as she was fed with MY MILK. That said, we made every effort to get DD back on the breast ASAP.

[mimid]

Originally Posted by 2much2luv

That is so sad. My second dd went into the NICU a few days after her birth and stayed for 2 and 1/2 days. I didn't notice screaming and crying but a definate lack of parents and, I hate to say this and hope it is not true in all hospitals, but I blame mostly the staff. I was encouraged to leave and get some rest and blah blah blah. I know I left my poor baby too much; I should not have left her side even for a moment, but I was exhausted and very open to suggestion. Anyway, I was there most of the daytime except to go eat and there was one other mama that came every day. The rest of the babies (about 5 of them I could see) I never saw the parents. It is just a sad situation. I am sorry you had to see that.

There was also a big-time lack of parents in ours. Very few stayed regularly and often they would come and go very quickly. There were a couple that called and asked about their babes. I didn't feel pressured to leave. There was only once that the nurse told me to go rest. It was the first Friday night I was home and I was still sore and hacking from my cold and dh pushed me 1 1/2 miles in a wheelchair to see the girls because it was Shabbat already. (We're observant Jews) and the nurse was telling me to go rest because I wasn't 100% better and that I could easily catch something again and if I was sick, I wouldn't be able to spend as much time with the girls. Plus it was midnight and they were asleep and wouldn't be up to eat for 3 hours. (They were still in the needing to woken to eat stage.)

I do know that there were 2 babes that I heard crying a lot. One in our bay and one in the next bay. DH asked about the one i our bay and we were told that he was in a lot of pain but they couldn't give him more medications and there was a reason he couldn't be picked up. I can't remember why. But often the nurses would be there talking and singing to him. Sadly, he was one of the babes whose parents I only saw once. :

[jkpmomtoboys]

Originally Posted by CallMeMommy

Why in your NICU do you bottle-feed instead of tube feed in breastfeeding infants?

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I wanted to comment that we tube fed initially and then bottlefed because ds kept pulling his tube out. The ng tube, the og tube, you name it, he hated it.

He loved nippling all his feeds.

Since I was there 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., he did all his daytime feeds with me and his nighttime feeds with a bottle and never had a problem transitioning at all.

For us, we had to prioritize our concerns and the bottle just wasn't one of them.

As for not seeing other parents around, you never know what their situations are. Maybe they have other children, maybe they have to work, maybe they live 60 miles away. Don't judge if you don't know; just be thankful you were able to make the sacrifices you could to be with your little ones.

And I'm glad the nurses told me to stay home one day. Like many of you, I couldn't recover from my crash c/s fully b/c I spent every day travelling an hour each way and 12 hours in the NICU. Finally figured out that while my baby needed me in the NICU, he was going to need me much more when he was home so I'd better recover so I could be there fully when he got home.

Just my $.02...

[ApplePieBaby]

Originally Posted by jkpmomtoboys

We are thinking of you. This time is the hardest--keep your chin up and do whatever you have to do to take care of YOU. I cannot emphasize this enough...

As for this thread, it's really old--don't pay any attention to the poster making the inflammatory comments...

Thanks!

[ApplePieBaby]

Originally Posted by jkpmomtoboys

As for not seeing other parents around, you never know what their situations are. Maybe they have other children, maybe they have to work, maybe they live 60 miles away. Don't judge if you don't know; just be thankful you were able to make the sacrifices you could to be with your little ones.

I was just thinking I rarely see other parents... but then again, we usually go at night, when DH is home from work. We eat dinner & then make the hour + drive down to see Elora.
I bet all the parents that are there all day long think no one loves the poor baby in isolation LOL

[Amys1st]

I know that some parents came at odd hours. One father would come at 4 am before he went to work at 7am. I saw him on the log daily FOR 3 MOS!!

He had to work to have the benifits to pay the nicu stay and make a living.

My dh went back to work the Tues after Maggie was born. I sent him. He needed the distraction. I would have loved to be w her 24/7 but she was at another hospital and I had to recover from her emrgency deliver. A c section after she stuck her foot in the birth canel and caused me to dilate.

She would have never survived room ing . She was on the vent within minutes of coming out. I thank God everyday that we have her and I can NAK while posting.

I hope this thread dosent get bumpd again.

[CallMeMommy]

Originally Posted by jkpmomtoboys

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I wanted to comment that we tube fed initially and then bottlefed because ds kept pulling his tube out. The ng tube, the og tube, you name it, he hated it.

He loved nippling all his feeds.

Thanks for the memory, that just reminded me of how my DS would always pull his tube. I've got a pic of him with his little fist wrapped around his vent tube, too.

I remember there was one micro-preemie in the "feed and grow nursery" (one step up from the NICU and one step below going home), his parents were teenagers but they were still never there. Maybe a couple of times a week. And it was summer so there was no school. I feel bad for judging but in this case I can't help it. Maybe they both worked full-time (though I know they lived in the same town or within close driving distance as the hospital, her parents both worked there), maybe they were all NICU'd out after 11 weeks, I don't know, but I remember at the time wondering why that poor baby's parents weren't there more often. That's bad of me, I know. I don't really remember any babies that never got any visitors. There was one little guy who was full-term but had been transferred from Chicago to have open heart surgery, and his parents weren't there a whole lot but they had 2 or 3 other kids to take care of. The nurses always held him, though, especially since he was a crier. I always felt for the parents with older children or the people who lived too close to stay at RMDH but too far to make the trip frequently. Adam is my first so I was able to spend 12+ hours a day at the hospital with him as I was on leave from work, staying at the RMDH 4 blocks away, and had no one else to attend to (which also explains my confusion about the bottles when breastfeeding ).

[ApplePieBaby]

Originally Posted by CallMeMommy

lived too close to stay at RMDH

We have a 'hospitality house' and they go on and on about how we can stay there... only whenever we've tried, it's full. We wanted to stay for both her surgeries since it's across the street from the hospital, but ended up getting a hotel so we could avoid the morning traffic & get there on time for her early surgeries without waking up at 4 am

[crysmomofthree]

Originally Posted by LBBmom

Premature babies have very different needs than full-term babies. Preterm babies do not have the fat and reserves to go a whole week with only a few drops of colostrum. And even then, many times we have to fortify the breastmilk because it doesn't have enough calories to allow a small infant to grow.

.

I have read the thread I have had three preemie kids (33 weeks 35 weeks and 36 with iugr)

None of them have received formula. two of them required lots of help eating, and we used an ng tube when we were in the hospital, and a sns when we were at home but all with pumped milk.

I think that the "few drops of colostrum" is a myth, I could pump 2 oz of colostrum every 2 hours around the clock (a 5lb baby needs about 45 mls every 3 hours to grow)

[Amys1st]

I started pumping 2 hours after my c section. I pumped a lot and Maggie still gets the special formula. But nurses all day and all night. She gets 4 4oz bottles daily of 2 oz pbm/2 oz neosure or whatever its called. I pump when she misses a feeding during the day and every morning.