Premie Babies success stories

[EatLessBread]

Any EDF Mums out there have positive and successful stories about a premie birth?

My best, best and closest friend has just had her twin girls at 28 wks and I'm losing sleep over it. I wouldn't dream of saying anything to her but I had the fright of my life when I saw them and how teeny tiny they are. The hospital seem confident that all they need to do is grow but......will they be ok? Learning difficulties? Will they be behind? Will they grow well? All these questions that I have.

I am in the very early stages of a pregnancy too so I suppose the fears I have for my bestie are also heightened because of my own fears too.

I would love to hear back from mums and dads who have come through an early labour.

Mrs EatLessBread

[espelli]

I had my son at 32 weeks and he was 3lb 6oz when he was born so not the tiniest in SCBU at the time but small enough to cause friends to be wary of cuddling him! He had two 'ages' for a while - his actual age and his adjusted age (the age he should have been from his due date). He developed at the rate appropriate for his adjusted age and I sometimes used to tell people I met in cafes or baby groups that he was his adjusted age because he was so small. He is now coming up to 20 months and developing at the same rate as other babies of his age.

It is possible that babies born early will have special needs either with learning or physically but I would listen to the SCBU nurses as they are amazing and really know their stuff. The babies may develop slower than other babies to begin with and I would be lying if I said I wasn't anxious about that but many babies catch up eventually. I am a teacher and I have worked with a number of sets of twins and some of them were very early but not all have had any lasting effect of this by the time they get to school. Those that have had been very sick when they were born. It sounds like your friend's twins are doing well and so there is every probability that they will not suffer any lasting effect of their premness.

Your friend will need you to help her normalise her experience with them - I really appreciated it when people refrained from telling me how small my son was because to me he was perfect and I just wanted people to enjoy him in the way they would any newborn! Good luck with your own pregnancy. SCBU is a place where all the things that can go wrong in pregnancy and birth are very obvious but it is worth remembering that most people don't experience SCBU for their babies so don't let it worry you for your baby.

[Medusa]

I had mine at 29 weeks. They were straightforwardly prem with no major (ie life-and-death) difficulties, but even then, the doctors were extremely cagey about whether they would survive. They did, and although it took three months before all three were discharged from hospital and one was oxygen-dependent for 15 weeks, they then thrived. From the age of about one, they have been amongst the most healthy, physically robust children I've ever known. Heading towards thirteen now, I can't even remember the last time any of them had so much as a cold.

28/29 weeks isn't considered extremely premature these days and the vast majority survive. There is now known to be a 200-300% increase in the incidence of autistic spectrum disorders in children whose birthweight was very low, however.

It is a very stressful experience having a baby that prematurely, though. Your friend is likely to need a lot of support. It's a day-to-day thing because prem babies can go from being apparently fine to extremely ill very, very quickly so you can't relax at all and even when they come home, you tend to worry about every bug they are exposed to. It took me about two years to breathe out really.

[Running Ellsbells]

Had my twin boys at 30+4 1 year ago tomorrow!

Twin 1 was 3lbs14, twin 2 2lb8. They were teenie tiny and we were in Kings for 6 weeks but after only a year they have caught up with peers and no health probs what so ever.

We are lucky I know but plenty of success stories like ours. I am optimistic for your friend. Good luck, please keep us posted xx

[scotch]

Wow, lovely to hear so many stories.

I had my daughter at 28 weeks and she was 2lb 2.

It was frightening to see such a tiny thing and yes I did worry even though it was my second child.

She stayed in NICU for a week and then moved to SCBU for five weeks. She came home weighing just 4lbs.

It did take her a little longer to do things, e.g smile but now at 18 months apart from being small you wouldn't know. She began to walk at 1 year and is the most adventurous thing!!!

She did have to have her ears and eyes checked a lot at the beginning but all ok!

Kings hospital were totally amazing and I can't praise them enough.

Your friend needs to be reassured that babies born this early have a great success rate.

Whilst we were in NICU there was a 24 Weeker and she is doing great today.

Maybe it would be nice for us to have a premmie meet up??

Good luck with your pregnancy! Xx

[reren]

Very close friend had her twins at 25 weeks - they were 1 pound and just under a pound respectively when they arrived They are now 2 and a bit and perfectly healthy and developmentally exactly where they should be - they are a bit small still but apparently they will catch up by 5 - but there seem to be no health problems and they are talking walking etc it was obviously pretty tough for the parents - but it is amazing what can be done nowadays - so don't be too worried!

I pregnant too - and her story has actually made me feel less worried about premature birth because it has been so positive!

[chellbirdse15]

My son was a premie too, I have to echo everyone's comments above.. SCBU is an amazing place with amazing staff who not only know their stuff but are fantastically supportive to the parents too. If you were to meet my son, you would have no clue that he was prem, he is the tallest in his class and more advanced in practical things than his class mates for his age, he has experience a little bit of speech delay, but that was for a couple of months he is all caught you development wise now.... Please dont worry for her, things will all turn out for the best, you just need to support her .... good luck with ya pregnancy!!!!

[midivydale]

My cousin had her son at 24 weeks (to the day) and he weighed 613g at birth. He is one of the youngest and smallest babies to have survived in Sweden. There were some very frightening moments when he was newborn but he is 6yrs old now and thriving.

I think that the only major medical issues are his sight as he was in an incubator for so long it affected his sight. (I could be wrong about this).

He is just a thriving little boy now - love him to bits. He is amazing.

[Trish]

I myself was just over 2lb at birth and I was a twin though not premature - in fact, my mother wasn't aware she was having twins when she gave birth! I spent several weeks in an incubator but am fit and healthy and had no developmental problems as a child. I was just a little on the small side but so are most of my family.

[scareyt]

My son was born at 35 + 3 and it was in SCBU at Kings for two weeks but with no major health problems, just low blood sugar. It was horrible at the time but he's 3 and totally fine now. He smiled later than the books said but did everything else and was always smaller than his peers but not noticeably so any more. The worst part for me was establishing milk supply as I was desperate to breastfeed - I actually wrote up some advice for mums in the same position afterwards as it was so tough. Happy to share that with anyone if it might be useful.

From memory the best support you can give is to bring loads of nice food for your friend every time you visit and visit frequently but not stay very long because its wonderful to see loved ones but she will be so drained and exhausted by the emotional roller coaster of it all. But like others have said please don't worry, the staff are amazing and they will be in very good hands.