advice--help--feedback

:lurk:
Time to take up a craft -- knitting, crocheting, sewing.
This is fun: http://www.amygunson.com/Sewing/Paper%20Piecing.pdf :goodluck: Hope your stay is long (and I mean that in the nicest possible way, I hope baby bakes good and long!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiggersMommy

:bigarmhug:

If I were unexpectedly hospitalized, I would try not to worry "what" my DH and DD were eating. So long as your DH is feeding him, he'll be fine. Don't stress yourself out about it. if it helps to pass the time, make a short list of dinner items that your DH can handle.

Baby measuring ahead is a great sign! U/S aren't that accurate at this point but 9 days ahead is at least an indication that you're ahead of the game. I'm sorry I don't have any specifics on nursing a preemie. What I do know is that you should try to get BFing established as soon as possible and you should absolutely be pumping as much as possible if baby isn't nursing. Pump as often as a newborn nurses. Say every hour during the day and every 2-3 at night. Its hardcore but that's what its going to take to set yourself up for success. I've never heard that you HAVE to wait until 32 weeks. I think its more to do with baby not having the required reflexes to nurse, which is why they'd be tube feeding or syringe feeding. Ask to see an LC immediately, like now, so you'll be better prepared. Contact local breastfeeding groups now for support later. You're fortunate that you have time to prepare (and hopefully a good amount of it).

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuckeyeK

As far as what DH/DS are eating, do you have friends/family nearby that can set up a meal train for your family? meal Train | Meal Calendar for New Parents, Surgery, Illness, and More I've even seen people post a meal train link on facebook. Do you attend a church? Your church friends might help out, too.

Best wishes and many hugs to you. I hope that baby boy keeps baking!

I'm sure it's easier said than done, but I agree to no worry too much about what DH/DS are eating at home. As long as they are eating something they will be fine. Meal Train is an excellent idea - someone set this up for a family in our church when she was pregnant with triplets.
A couple quick/easy things I can think of though for meals - now they may not be the *best* nutritional content, but easy :) Wrap up cut hot dogs in crescent rolls - can put a slice of cheese in between if wanted & bake them per directions on the can of rolls - DD loves these. Also, make up some taco meat & instead using a taco shells, place over top tortilla chips/doritos, along with whatever toppings sound good.

As far as BF, your best bet for info is to talk to the LC at your hospital. I don't remember with DD there being a magic age when you could attempt to BF, every hospital could have their own criteria. There is probably a general recommendation as to the earliest preemies are generally able to BF - I'm sure if you search around you could find this info, and it could very be approximately 32 weeks. The biggest thing is that they have to be mature enough to coordinate their suck/swallow/breath!! Something so easily taken for granted!!
I know there are people that are successful at being able to BF their preemies. Until you get the go-ahead, be sure to pump away to keep up your supply! Oh, and be sure to use a hospital grade pump!! My hospital was able to supply one in DD's hospital room so I could pump whenever I was there with her & I ended up renting one for home. With DD, she was fed breast milk (via tube) once they ok'd her to be off of her IV nutrition. Preemies burn more calories because they sometimes work so hard at coordinating everything, so they often do require extra calories. I forget how many calories regular BM/formula have - I think it's something like 22 cal/oz, so sometimes they add to the BM to make it 24 or 26 cal/oz. So DD was fed BM with a human milk fortifier to boost up the calorie content so she wouldn't lose weight in the efforts expended to eat & gain weight.
I unfortunately was not able to BF DD, but I don't think it was necessarily due to her prematurity. Once she was able to get the suck/swallow/breath thing down (via bottle), they determined that she was aspirating liquids into her lungs, so needed thickened liquids, so we had to add thickener to her BM. I forget when they finally cleared her via a swallow study - well after she was discharged from the hospital, so by then she had been feeding via bottle at least a good 6 months, so by that time she wanted nothing to do with the breast. I ended up exclusively pumping for a year with her.

What to do while confined to your hospital bed?? I'm not sure if you saw one of the other posts - check out keep em cookin' for other ideas posted by moms on bedrest or those that have been through it before. I wasn't on hospital bedrest so was able to do a few extra things - I finished my wedding scrapbook from 5 years prior :) I found tons of on line tutorials/patterns for things to sew - burp cloths, bibs, nursing covers, car seat covers - granted most of those require a sewing machine, but someone mentioned knitting/crocheting - great ideas. Movies. Books. I spent so much time on line. Do you have a name picked out yet - that can take up lotsa time :)
Plan out your birth announcement/design, start any thank you cards you can now (ppl bringing meals for DH/DS, etc) so you don't have to do them all after baby is born. Christmas is around the corner -- if you send out holiday cards you can start hunting for those; online shop for christmas gifts...I always make a personalized calendar for the grandparents from Snapfish or Shutterfly & of course wait til the end so I get way stressed out downloading photos of the kids & designing my calendars :)

Keeping you in my thoughts & prayers!!

Sorry to hear your on bedrest...
The other ladies gave you get advice. I would also just not worry too much about what ds and dh are eating as long as they are eating something lol. Easy meals around here include, veggie burgers, turkey hotdogs, and crockpot meals.

I was on bedrest with Trevor and I watched alot of tv. I also played a nintendo ds alot lol! I was 18 with no other kids so... it wasn't too hard just very bored.

Keep baking your little sweet baby! I hope you have a LONG hospital stay!

Sorry you are on bedrest and away from home. I agree with what the other ladies have said. Maybe some crockpot meals for your DH? Just throw in a few things and walk away while it cooks. I don't have much to add other than hugs and prayers being sent your way.

Do sorry you are on bedrest. Hope your LO keeps on cooking for a long time still.

If you do have to bring your milk in with a pump then totally request a hospital grade pump and lots of extra parts to go with it so you aren't washing pieces non-stop. When I brought my milk in for DS2 while he was in the NICU I found pumping every 1.5-2 hours to be essential. The LC recommended that I skip a pump at night so I could sleep at least 4-5 hour period and that actually made a big difference in the exhaustion factor. I only had to do this for a few days so I'm not sure what the long term would look like for a preemie. Also used my battery attchment plug on my medela pump so I could leave the hospital and pump in the car or when we were out and about. I totally recommend getting something like that if your LO has to stay in the hospital and you are able to come and go.

I really hope your LO bakes a few more weeks and is able to nurse like a champ when he arrives.

Nothing to add to what everyone else has suggested, but wanted to say I'm thinking of you and I hope baby bakes much longer!