My Initiation to the World of Premature Babies!

My second child ("Dolly") arrived one month early. I was taken by surprise at work when my water broke, a little.  I had a gush of water and wasn't quite sure what happened.  To be safe, I decided to call the hospital and they recommended I go in for monitoring.  So I went in my work clothes (that day a dress, kind of funny I never wore maternity dresses but the word was out that my co-workers were throwing me a 'surprise' shower that day and I wanted to dress up) - I also had removed my nylons after the 'leak' and a pair of Ugg boots.  I was not at all prepared for a hospital stay. I picked up my son ("Mister" at the daycare and DH drove me to the hospital.  I kind of said - bye, I'll see you later thinking that it would be nothing ... my reasoning was that in the first pregnancy when my water broke it was A LOT of water - gushes and gushes.  Well, as it turns out, my water was leaking. They did some kind of test to confirm it and an Ultrasound to check on the levels of AF and decided to admit me and go for the gold. I remember being worried and asking about lung development.  I knew that was what I should be worried about but the doctor reassured me that babies at 35 weeks were pretty far along in terms of lung development.  I called DH and he took our son to the neighbour's house, called grandma in for reinforcement and made his way to the hospital.  This started on Tuesday night.  Thursday at noon our little girl arrived.  She was beautiful. She was perfect - weighing in at 5 lbs, 16 ounces - just under 6 lbs.  I got to hold her, DH cut the cord, her APGAR scores were 8 and 9.  It was amazing.  

Within the first hour, Dolly started grunting.  The nurses were concerned and called in the RTs.  She was taken to NICU.  And so began our journey of 18 days in NICU at two hospitals with Dolly.  She was intubated due to Respiratory Distress, given CPAP, determined to have an infection (sepsis) so underwent a Spinal Tap and round of antibiotics, dealt with some jaundice so went under the Billi lights for a few days and received most of her feedings through a NG tube.  The hospital I was at didn't let me stay so I had to travel back and forth to see her during the day and then come home to my son at night. I cried every time I left her at the hospital, it broke my heart. I couldn't wait to bring her home to have her by me.  When she was moved to the Level II nursery, we primarily were working on trying to get Dolly. to wake up to feed.  Most of her feedings were NG - so I would merely hold her, skin to skin while the pumped breast milk was given to her through the NG.  I longed for her to feed from me.  By the time we were transferred to the second hospital (not closer to home as I hoped) we were still working on the breast feeding.  The nurses began giving her bottles of my breast milk and although I still try to put Dolly to the breast, I mostly pump my milk and give it to her in the bottle now. It was my ticket to taking her home, out of the hospital and I rationalized that she was still getting my milk.  See, Mister never took the breast.  What felt like hundreds of lactation consultant visits and every method possible, I finally gave up with him. I pumped for 13 weeks and then introduced formula.  Pumping is something that I'm familiar with - although I had high hopes and expectations the second time around.  But not she is home with me and that is all that matters.

So now my next issue about premature babies - RSV.  Infection nurses sat me down in hospital to talk about RSV - Respiratory Syncitial Virus. Infection with RSV is a major cause of lower respiratory tract disease in children. RSV may cause apnea and pneumonia in premature babies and other vulnerable groups, but appears as a simple cold in adults and older children. Premature babies are particularly at risk of severe RSV infection because their lungs are weak, their immune system is underdeveloped.  I was advised not to take Dolly to public places like malls or to large family gatherings.  My son in daycare is a huge risk factor so when he gets home from school I strip his clothes and change him into his 'after school outfit' and wash/sanitize his hands to try to reduce the risk of germs passing to Dolly.  When does this process stop? I am constantly worrying about her getting sick ... how long is cold season anyway?