Preemie Support

Hi ladies...am new, am from the Augest expecting group. I had a baby girl named Chloe july 22nd at 36 wks. I got induced because of severe pre-elapcsia...blood pressure through the roof. I was 1 c when i arrived and given pit, i started dialating fast at first but then got stuck at 4...they didnt like the babys heart rate eighter, she was really sleepy. so they did a c-sec and she was born at 4:51 the 22nd...now when she was born they estimated 4 to 5 puonds...she was 3 lbs 9oz they dunno why maybe the pre-clampcia? i also had low fluid. anyways she had a bit of jandauce, and was under the light. She never had lot of the problems most preemies have since she was 36 wks already...she is just very small. they noticed one of her legs was pale. so eventually put 2 and 2 together and did an eco of her heart...she had coratation of the aorta so she had heart surgery on the 27th, she is doing great now. We are weighting for her to gain some weight so she can be realsed. My question is at what point or weight do they realse her? i asked and they keep saying when they have a steady weight gain and she has been out of incubator for a while...here are the facts, she eats anywhere from 35 to 50 ccs every 3 hrs.

*was 3 lbs 9oz at birth

*3 lbs 11oz 3 days after

*surgery( didnt eat for a a week, they wouldnt let her) dropped to 3 lbs even

*8/3 3 lbs 8oz

*8/7 3lbs 11 oz

8/9 3lbs 12oz

So i guess my question is i think i see a steady weight gain and she has been out of the incubator for 48 hrs now. they havent even given me a go home time. am so anxious to bring her home =( sorry this is so long lol any advice or personal experience would be great! thanks in advance ladies...i attached a pic of chloe just incase you wanna see =)

 

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Hello and congrats on your little one. I can understand the wanting to bring your baby home and we have all been there. I don't have any experience with the weight department since my preemies were all monsters however if I had to guess they would want to see a steady weight gain for 4 or 5 days. Also keep in mind carseats are not meant for babies under 5 lbs so they may have to wait until she is closer to that.

Have they done a carseat check yet? Usually that is the first sign it will be soon. Also most nurses/drs don't like to say when baby will come home. It is kind of like Murphy's law. If they tell you she is coming home and then she can't you would be crushed and that would make it so much worse. When my ds was in the NICU every few days they would tell us in a few days. That went on for 31 days. When we finally got the call that it was time for him to come home we went to the hospital expecting to find out he had to stay.

I hope she comes home soon and all goes well. Please keep us updated on how she is doing and when she comes home.

Thank you Amber for the siggy

You are probably not going to get a d/c date until 24-48 hours before it happens. My experience is that they don't tell you earlier because so much can change and a delayed d/c can be devastating. I will tell you that our doc had us wait until Ella was 4.5 pounds and maintained a consistent body temp of at least 97.8 in an open crib for at least 48 hours. She also had to finish all her feedings in under 30 minutes and be free of A&B episodes. My friend had a 29 weeker and he went home at exactly 4 pounds. Every baby is different.

With your baby having heart surgery I'm assuming she will be going home on a heart monitor. Our NICU had us do a training with the monitor, the car seat test, and an infant CPR class before Ella could d/c. They also had me room-in with her.

Once they have you do the car seat test I would guess your probably d/c in the next 24 hours.

Tina

Hi Loreta,

Welcome to the board!...and congratulations on the birth of Chloe!!! She is just precious!

Usually when you ask a doctor when your child will get to go home, they will say not to expect them home before her due date. When it comes to a baby that is a late preemie, it is sometimes hard to tell. Usually the determining factor is if the baby can do 3 things: maintain her own body temperature without assistance, nipple all of her feeds, and breath without assistance.

With them watching her weight and you saying that she is out of the incubator, I'm thinking they are watching everything for certain reasons. When a baby is taken out of the incubator, two things can happen. They keep their temps up and also continue to gain weight, or their temps drop a bit and they start to drop in weight. When the second thing happens, the weight loss is a sign that the baby is using too many calories to keep her body temperature up. But if she's been out of the incubator for a little while, then my guess would be they just want to continue to monitor her after the heart surgery and that she is really just what they call a "feeder/grower". Car seats are not rated for a baby under a certain weight...I believe most are rated for 5 pounds and above but there might be some rated for 4.5 pounds...not sure on that. For a baby that is too small for a car seat, a car seat can be very dangerous.

By now I'm guessing Chloe's weight to be at or just over 4 pounds. It won't be long at all until she reaches 5 pounds. For my daughter, once she hit 4 pounds, her weight kind of snowballed and she gained really quickly. She was much stronger after she hit 4 pounds and passed all of her tests with flying colors. She was just under 5 pounds when she got to come home. :)

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