Community post

Heyy!! It sounds like you sure have had an interesting couple of days!! I hope your little one is able to stay in a little longer, mine started trying to come out around the same time but was able to make it to 37 weeks on the dot! I know its hard not to worry but the steroid shots greatly help and im sure your doctors will keep a great eye on you and your little one!!! I know what you mean, I was put on bedrest after my hospital trips and it was so hard not to clean and get up and do things. It makes for a long few weeks...as if the wait wasn't long enough already haha. How are you feeling? Have your contractions stopped?

Sorry it has taken me awhile to respond, its been a busy few weeks with a newborn! haha To answer your previous message unfortunately I wasn't able to breastfeed. I started to but wasn't able to produce enough in the beginning and as a result he developed jaundice and I had to supplement until my milk came in to basically "flush out the jaundice" and once my milk came in he was use to the speed he would get the formula and it takes longer breastfeeding and he would get really upset. But he was a large baby being a few ounces shy of 9 pounds and that was part of the reason he wasn't getting enough, because he was bigger and just wanted more. He had his one month checkup yesterday and is already weighing 12.6 pounds and has grown an inch lengthwise and is already eating 4oz a feeding! I must say it was difficult in the beginning because I would get upset when he would cry for no reason and getting used to getting up every few hours but we had a great support system from our parents and after a few weeks you get used to the crying and are able to distinguish between real cries and fake cries. I am still nervous about taking him out in public alone for the fear of him having a crying fit and me not being able to settle him down, Im sure that skill will come with time too. I can't wait for you to get to experience everything. It is so rewarding and so different when its your own baby. Just seeing them stare back at you and react when they recognize your voice, its just amazing! They are still following up on his brain he had a head ultrasound last week and everything still measured the same but they want to sedate him and give him an mri just to be 100 percent sure but it really upsets me. He is just so tiny and innocent that it breaks my heart at the thought of him having to undergo anesthesia. But the doctors told us that its necessary to prove that everything is okay and that they think he is developing just fine, they just have to do the tests to prove it. He has that on the 19th of December. The postpartum recovery has been a little different than what I expected, there is a lot of things they neglect to tell you haha. On the plus side I have already gone back down to 4 pounds shy of my pre pregnancy weight, I gained 30 all together. So how have you been? How have your last few weeks of being pregnant been? Sorry it has taken me awhile to respond I will try to check this site more often since you are getting close. If you want I can message you my email address, I check that a lot more frequently. I am so excited for you that you are getting so close!!!

Hi!

The contractions have not stopped. They go through phases though. I will have a few hours of 10 minute apart contractions, then they calm down. Or a few hours of sporadic (some 20 minute apart, some 40 minute apart etc) and then a few hours of 5 minute apart ones. So as yet they are not intensifying progressively so I am still assuming they are pre labour and hope that it is really obvious when I start into actual labour! It would be great to make it to 37 weeks. I am relieved we are at 34 weeks now and will rejoice with each day that passes! The hospital bags are waiting ready to be grabbed at a moments notice just in case! I am feeling okay. I do get some cramping in my lower abdomen every now and then as well which I am not sure if it is labour related. Thats been happening since last night, but very on and off.

Sorry to hear the breastfeeding didn't work out as hoped. I hadn't really thought of a baby having that kind of reaction to switching from formula to breast!! If ours comes earlier it would need to be tube fed until it learns to suck. I will be trying my hardest to get that going well but we may need to use formula if there are glucose issues from the diabetes. It sounds like he is growing well though, so that is great!!!

Wow I would have thought they would have left the brain investigations now that he is safely born. What do they think are the ramifications if there really is an issue?? That is such a scary thing thinking of your baby going through that. Such a hard decision to make as a parent.

Apart from the threatened preterm labour things have been going well. The glucose is under control which is great. I had a midwife appointment yesterday and on her scales it looked like I had lost weight!!! They are different scales to usual and on carpet too so hopefully it is just an error. I have another hospital appointment on Monday so that will tell me for sure. don't really have enough weight to lose!!!

Please do message me your email address. That would help me as well as I am sure I won't check on here as often once baby comes either!!

Yepp! That sounds like pre-labor I went through that for a couple weeks. The cramping sounds normal too, I experienced that as well. To me it felt kind of like the cramps I feel around af time and my doctor told me that it was probably the contractions working my uterus. And as far as the losing weight thing that is very common at the end of pregnancy! I lost weight too around 36 weeks and was shocked so I researched it and it is one of the signs that labor isn't far off. Also if you feel like you might be in labor its best to go even if you aren't having close contractions, its better to be safe! My contractions never got closer than 4 minutes apart even while I was pushing him out, they tried to get them closer and they couldn't. Also I never felt very painful contractions it just felt like tightening with period cramps to me.

The doctors said they want to do the tests to make sure that the fluid in his brain isnt increasing now that he is born. If it increases it could be very bad and they would have to drain it. If it gets worse it could lead to learning delays, autism, and in extreme cases it can effect motor functions and other normal brain functions but at this point it is nowhere near that. They told me at the very most it might take him a little longer to reach certain milestones but once he hits them he will catch back up to normal. But so far at this point he is looking excellent and is doing everything he should be doing and even hitting milestones early!
Just yesterday he had his first real smile (one that isn't in his sleep or because of gas) I started talking and he heard my voice and turned and looked at me and gave me the biggest toothless smile and has been doing it all the time since! haha The doctor said the first smile is a major milestone for babies because it shows that their brain is maturing and developing on track and also that they are learning from things you do and developing their social skills!

That is scary to think of your baby on a feeding tube, I couldn't imagine going through that. Prayers for you that are able to continue being pregnant for a few more weeks! As far as the baby having glucose problems after delivery, we went through that too. Even more reason that I think the doctor missed my gestational diabetes... But all they had to to was take his blood every so often to make sure that it leveled back out and eventually it did. I was told that the colostrum is a really big aide in helping level out a babys blood sugar and thankfully I was able to give him that for the first two days. I am glad to hear you are able to keep yours under control tho!

How are you doing with bed rest so far and not going to work everyday? I bet its a big change for you! And sounds good, I'll message it to you now :]