Preemie Support Thread - Page 2

[venustx]

The goal is August 20 and I'm starting to think I may actually make it! My blood pressure has been a little wacky, but it's mostly under control and I haven't had any contractions since I was admitted to the hospital over a week ago. I think I was overdoing it at home, even though I really wasn't doing much, plus I'm on medication now that helps keep my uterus from contracting.

I'm 33 weeks today, and in 15 days (at the most), I will have three babies. It's amazing!

[pauletoy]

Originally Posted by stephck

In my expereince as a lactation consultant-nipple shields REALLY HELP the little early babies and most are ready to wean off of them by the time they are term... I know its hard, keep it up and lots of

stephck - thank you so much for your expert opinion. I was really afraid that if we started the nipple sheild that it would hinder bfing.

venustx - great job making it to 33 weeks with 3. You must have an iron clad cervix. I am so jealous.

DocsNemesis - It is so funny that you mentioned the small "man parts". I thought the exact same thing the first time I changed JT's diaper. I am so glad to hear your little one is in a crib now. It is one step closer to the door to get your little man home.

I didn't realize how hard the whole suck swallow breath thing was. Do you still have the g-tube? We were told that the g-tube made bottle and breastfeeding more complicated because the tube can actually cause some throat discomfort. As soon as JT's was taken out, he started bottle feeding like a champ. now bfing is another story.

[DocsNemesis]

Yeah, they will not remove the g tube until he is nippling most of his feeds. I was wondering if it would make it feel wierd last night but I think right now, he needs it since he really doesnt get how to eat normally at all. I might push for it to be taken out once he is actually feeding from a bottle and he isnt having major decells during it though.

I'm gonna get some pics tonight without all the tubes and stuff hopefully

[DocsNemesis]

Well-he's still totally clueless. We were cracking up when I tried to nurse him yesterday-he took 5 minutes to open his mouth, finally did, and then just lay there looking around with his mouth wide open and my boob in his mouth. And smiling. I have NEVER seen a newborn smile so much! I know its not *social* smiling but seriously, he's constantly got a grin on his face, lol.

I wonder, when do they get that sucking reflex normally? I mean, he would occasionally suck on a binky before but now he wont even do that. Its wierd.

[DocsNemesis]

How are everyones earlybirds doing?

[pauletoy]

DocsNemesis - How is the nursing going?

JT is still recieving supplemental bottles of BM after everytime I attempt to nurse him. We are also still using the nipple shield.

I wonder how close we will have to get to our EDD for the breastfeeding to click with the babies?

[venustx]

My babies are all doing well. They're still in warming beds and all still need that support at times. Levi was put under the bili light yesterday because his levels were creeping up. He and Sage are nippling their feeds, but they warned us he may need to go back to gavage feeding if he does do not do well with the bili treatment and nippling. Jillian is still gavage fed and has a nasal canula. She is on room air but her respiration rate fluctuates a lot.

I wish I were doing so well. Postpartum hormones have hit HARD and it is a mess. I cry a lot and I'm not getting the support I need, because I'm on the GYN floor, not antepartum or postpartum because of hospital space. I've hardly slept at all since last Sunday night. I should be going home tomorrow. I spend all the time I can with my babies, but I am in a lot of pain and I can never stay more than a couple of hours at a time.

Pumping is going dreadfully. I pump and pump and I may get one tiny drop. They doubled my babies' feed amounts yesterday and they keep asking if I have milk for them. I feel so inadequate. I know this is tied in with the sleep issue and everything else but I can't seem to get it together.

My babies are healthy and I have so many reasons to be grateful but I end up crying for hours a day. I have tried to talk to people and I've been assured this is normal, but I would love it to go away!

[DocsNemesis]

Its amazing how different everyones preemies are. Kai hasnt had ANY issues with temp-he actually stays really warm even with nothing on him when he's being held and doesnt dip below normal in just a onesie on his own.

Breastfeeding is actually going well for us, but the problem is, I'm only there for 1-2 feedings a day. He does very well nursing, gets a full feeding and something I noticed that I found interesting is, he desats a lot during bottle feeding but NEVER during breastfeeding. It seems backwards since he's more scrunched up during nursing and I have a very heavy letdown so he gets a really fast *flow* if you will, but thats definately the case. I have a feeling once he gets home, he'll be gaining more since he'll have constant access to the breast-or at least close to it-and I can give him little snacking sessions that they wont let me do at the hospital (how dumb).

At least JT will take a bottle after! When Kai decides he's done, he will NOT open his darned mouth, lol. Actually its kind of funny seeing this little baby with his mouth closed tight, trying to get a nipple in his mouth. I should take pics! lol

Venus-dont worry about the milk yet. I noticed that my milk came in much slower and later with pumping, but it still came in. Normally I get it on the 3rd day and in full force-I basically wake up horribly engorged-but this time I didnt really have it come in until the 5th day and it slowly increased over the next 2 days. Now I'm getting over twice as much as he's eating....my freezer is getting full! lol I'm actually working on increasing it even more just so I have as much as possible for when he turns into a lil piggy, lol. Are you pumping every 3 hours for at least 15 minutes? Including at night? Or at least once or twice a night. The night time pumpings are actually the most important, you release a lot more prolactin at night for whatever reason. I'd just give it a few more days before you get too discouraged

ETA-forgot to mention, he's still on oxygen, so we are still stuck there for quite awhile, as he has to be without O2 and without any desats for at least 5 days before he can come home. The nurses still cant agree as to whether he needs the O2, whether he is desatting for real, etc. I saw a REAL desat yesterday and I can safely say I hadnt seen that before even when the monitors said otherwise. He turned purpley blue-it was during a bottle feeding and he was forgetting the whole BREATHE thing, lol. So I dont think he's been having true desats, but whatever. I cant do much about it

[venustx]

I nursed my son today. He latched on like a champ, and when he would let go, he would turn his head and latch again. He didn't even look at me like I'm a bad mom because there was no milk. I really needed that.

[DocsNemesis]

Awww how sweet! Thats awsome too!

I totally lied, Kai decided he didnt want to nurse at all yesterday. He would open his mouth, latch on, and then suck MAYBE once and lay there. But he took bottles with no problem. Now I'm all worried....I think he's getting lazy because of the bottles and I really hate to think of going through what I went through with my first (major nipple confusion and 3 months of work to get him to nurse). Ugh. But at least he's up to 8/8 feeds today and should have his gastric tube pulled. Which is good since he pulled it out 3 times yesterday!

[pauletoy]

venustx- How exciting to feed your baby for the first time. Hopefully the other two will be as eager as their brother. There is nothing in the world that helps the postpartum blues more than holding and nursing your baby. I hope you are feeling better today and are getting more support. I noticed that you might be going home today. I will be thinking of you. It is so hard driving away from the hospital leaving your little one(s) behind even if you have to come back in 2 hours for feedings. When you get home, concentrate on resting as much as you can between trips to the NICU.

It took my milk about 5 days to come in. I was embarrassed to take the little drops in also. A very sweet nurse reminded me that every little bit preemies get helps.

DocsNemesis - Sorry Kai wasn't cooperative in the nursing department yesterday. Did he get the tube out today? That is a huge milestone and just gets him one step closer to home? JT also had some episodes of desat and brady according to the monitors. I was shocked that the nurses didn't think it was a big deal. I guess his were from him moving around and somehow affecting the sensors for the monitors.

We have a lovely new issue: REFLUX

All of my kids have had severe reflux, we were hoping JT wouldn't. His ped put him on Axid a couple of days ago. He is still pretty fussy after feedings. He doesn't spit up a whole lot but he makes this girgling sound and then starts screaming bloody murder. I wonder if this could be part of nursing issue. Maybe the poor little guy's throat hurts to bad to stay latched on.

Hope everyone has a good day with the little ones.

[DocsNemesis]

Ooo yeah, reflux is icky. The nurse yesterday mentioned Kai's desats could actually be due to reflux, which I'd never heard before. But yeah, my 2nd had bad reflux and it was NOT fun. Hugs to ya! I hope the meds help.

Yes! He had his gastric tube pulled yesterday morning, did have one nursing session and was doing fine with bottle feedings still. They arnt planning on it going back in at all. However, he is still desatting and was actually being really bad about it yesterday . I dont really know why they have him on the oxyen still since both the nurses and the doc said it doesnt help. He desats and it doesnt matter how much O2 is going through the canula, he still desats. Its his breathing itself and apnea. He'll do this hyperventilating type breathing that causes desats and he also has apnea episodes. So...they are starting him on caffiene today. The doc said this is the last thing for him to go home so he wants to see if this works. If it does, he can come home. If it doesnt, well....we just have to wait it out. Which really sucks.

[DocsNemesis]

How are all the little ones doing!? Updates people, updates!

Kai was due 6 days ago, which totally seemed wierd to me. He had his first doctor visit since we took him from the hospital yesterday. He's up to 9 pounds 1 ounce, 20 inches long. Now mind you, we stopped the extra supplementing (22 cal formula added to my milk), stopped the vitamins, stopped the caffiene, and stopped the feeding schedule and allowed him to start eating when he wanted. His weight gain shows that obviously he's doing fine without all that stuff! OH! And, he is exclusively breastfeeding now! He's such a sweet baby too, so calm most of the time.

And, he's cute. I'm not biased at all.