by Platinum » Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:58 am
Hi Looey
I' ve also been following your other thread, and hoping for good news at every stage. Michelle has offered some great advice.
I didn't have a bag or anything, as I just popped in to the delivery suite to be checked over as I had some bleeding, and fast forward a few hours and I haemorrhaged and Elizabeth was born at 29+3 by emergency c-section. This was in the middle of the night, so the following morning DH popped home and got whatever I needed.
As for the baby, the earlier he/she arrives the less he/she will need for a while. Our neonatal unit only provided the first couple of nappies, until we were able to send someone out to the shop with a shopping list specified by neonatal, which was things like nappies, nappy sacks, olive oil, sudocrem, vaseline, cotton wool balls. She didn't wear clothes for a few days as the incubator is very warm and they don't like anything more than necessary on their delicate skin. The unit had clothes that they used, but we soon preferred to get our own - clothes from Tesco, Boots etc weren't well enough designed for very tiny babies, as at least one arm, leg and head were in some way attached to tubes/wires for a few weeks! Mothercare did a tiny vest with velcro which the staff at NNU loved, and I trawled the internet and bought a few little wrap-around garments. Only once the baby is out of the incubator are clothes really necessary, but it was a lovely emotional moment when I arrived in the unit when my daughter was a few days old, to see her dressed for the first time in a lovely delicate cotton dress!
Our NNU provided formula milk, but only provided donated breast milk for the very sickest babies (which my daughter apparently wasn't). I expressed religiously but didn't manage to get my supply very good, so by the time we left NNU she was on half formula. You might like to think about whether you wish to express milk. You will probably be loaned a breast pump by the unit.
If you do end up bottle feeding, you may find that your neonatal unit uses a certain type. Ours preferred Nuk teats as they felt they were accepted best by the very tiny babies, and are quite good if babies are transitioning between bottle and breast. Therefore we went with Nuk as Elizabeth was used to those teats. But I would wait and see what happens bfore rushing out and buying bottles, sterilisers etc. Of course, if your baby is very premature, he/she will be tube fed for some time.
The NNU will encourage you to do what you can for your baby - cleaning face, changing nappies, feeding (even by tube) etc. It's all part of the bonding process, and we got a lot of support. I even bathed her a couple of times on the unit. It meant that by the time we took her home, we felt like we knew what we were doing!
We made some decisions before my daughter was born, but ended up changing what we did because she was so tiny. For example, we found that we had to buy a moses basket because she didn't like her crib - probably because of the open bars and air flow around her, which was different to the 'goldfish bowl' style cots in the neonatal unit. We just put the moses basket in her crib until she was bigger and could hold her temperature better and was happy in the crib. Also, you might want to consider things like the carrycot attachment for whatever buggy you choose, even if you previously weren't going to bother.
But to be honest, you can wait for all of this. The most important thing is to stay healthy and relaxed and keep cooking that ultra-precious baby for a bit longer if you can.
If you want more info about what it's like having a premature baby in intensive care etc. let us know - I did write a very detailed summary of our time on the unit which I'm happy to share (but won't force upon anyone as it is very long!).
Or any other questions - as Michelle says, we're happy to help in whatver way we can.
Platinum x
TTC#1 since Dec 06
Heterozygous for MTHFR; weak +ve for Lupus and IgG antibodies
IVF#2 (4th ET): 2 blastocysts, BFP 1/6/10! OHSS
Clexane 80mg, Aspirin 75mg, B12 3x50mcg, Metformin 4x500mg
Gestational diabetes
Elizabeth born prematurely by emergency C-section on 25/11/10 at 29+3, due to placental abruption, weighing 3lbs
