The NICU can be a nerve-racking place for mom, dad and baby, with bright lights, beeping monitors and a busy staff. The staff works hard to provide a comfortable and healthy surrounding for your baby, The lights are often times dimmed and babies' isolates are sometimes covered to decrease the light and noise to help promote that surrounding.
Too often mothers have preventable problems with breastfeeding. Many hospital routines make it difficult for mothers and babies to breastfeed successfully. When the baby is born prematurely, mothers may have even more difficulty with breastfeeding, and this is unfortunate because premature babies need breastmilk and breastfeeding even more than healthy full term babies.
What you are going through is so painful, and all your reactions, thoughts, and emotions are not crazy, but a natural part of the grief you are feeling over this terrible situation. You share much emotional common ground with other preemie parents whose babies are in critical condition.
Dear Ms Ultrasound,
I am 25 wks pregnant with my third child.
This is my fourth pregnancy as I miscarried in between my son and daughter. When I was carrying each of them( even the one we weren't blessed enough to meet)I had the regular weird pregnancy dreams. Just things that do no make sense I had come accustomed to those.
I need help with how to be a NICU mom. My baby was born at term, but was transferred to another hospital because of trouble breathing. Now he is being slowly weaned off the oxygen to room air, and once he can breathe well on his own he has to prove to them he can eat.
It's natural to have mixed emotions when you take your baby (or babies!) home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. You're thrilled to have Cherub all to yourself, but struggle with doubts: Can you really care for this fragile being? Do you really understand what that care consists of?
Your infant is in need of specialized care that only a NICU and specially trained staff can deliver. The environment that you entered into may be confusing, scary and overwhelming for all concerned. All you want to do is hold your child and not let go.
I could desperately use some advice on pumping. My daughter is 15 days old and in the intensive care unit. She will most likely be there for months and I have been pumping, trying to build up a supply for her. She currently has a feeding tube and is only getting 3cc an hour, so even the little I have been able to get should last a while. But I am at the end of my rope and am about the give up.
Dear Experts,
I am thinking about getting pregnant, but my last two pregnancies have been very complicated. My first daughter came at 26 weeks and had to stay in the NICU for 4 months following her birth. She weighed 1 pound 13 ounces.
Apnea, a pause in breathing, is fairly common in premature babies. Once it stops though it does not come back. While it's happening it is very frightening. Bradycardia, a slowing of the heart rate, often follows apnea or periods of shallow breathing. If your little one has these conditions, how will he be treated? Read on to find out.
I started having contractions on Monday, December 1. They were about 5 minutes apart the whole day and we were excited that it finally seemed to be "IT." I was due November 23, so I was ready!
Dear Experts,
I am thinking about getting pregnant, but my last two pregnancies have been very complicated. My first daughter came at 26 weeks and had to stay in the NICU for 4 months following her birth. She weighed 1 pound 13 ounces.
Babies born before the 37th week of gestation are born prematurely. Premature newborns are sometimes given the nickname, "preemies." Mothers who have their baby prematurely are often scared and nervous. Below is a brief description of what to expect when it comes to the care for your newborn preemie.
I could desperately use some advice on pumping. My daughter is 15 days old and in the intensive care unit. She will most likely be there for months and I have been pumping, trying to build up a supply for her. She currently has a feeding tube and is only getting 3cc an hour, so even the little I have been able to get should last a while. But I am at the end of my rope and am about the give up.
Unfortunately, while your preemie is hospitalized, you may not always receive effective guidance and support in your attempts to breast-feed. Your desire to breast-feed or the pace that you had imagined for feeding your baby might not match the staff's routines.
I need help with how to be a NICU mom. My baby was born at term, but was transferred to another hospital because of trouble breathing. Now he is being slowly weaned off the oxygen to room air, and once he can breathe well on his own he has to prove to them he can eat.
It's natural to have mixed emotions when you take your baby (or babies!) home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. You're thrilled to have Cherub all to yourself, but struggle with doubts: Can you really care for this fragile being? Do you really understand what that care consists of?
This last month has been a total whirlwind. I'm finally able to sit here and recall the last moments of a beautiful, albeit hard journey in my life and to write them down, to remember forever what it was like the last weeks I was pregnant with my precious twin daughters.
Too often mothers have preventable problems with breastfeeding. Many hospital routines make it difficult for mothers and babies to breastfeed successfully. When the baby is born prematurely, mothers may have even more difficulty with breastfeeding, and this is unfortunate because premature babies need breastmilk and breastfeeding even more than healthy full term babies.