Any 26 weeker success stories?

[bonita23]

My cousins friend who concieved her babies through IVF, had her water break around one of the babies early. She went for a few days, but the mommy developed respiratory distress as her lungs were filling up with fluid and she had to deliver her twins 2 hours shy of 26 weeks. They are B/G twins, the girl 1lb 12 oz and a boy 1 lb 15 oz. The girl is doing better than the boy at this point, the boy's heat actually stopped once but he came back. I coached her through her IVF, as she and her DH started trying when I did, suffered a miscarriage with Clomid and IUI, and got pregnant on their first try of IVF. My heart breaks for them. I know ther are sucess with 26 weekers, but I know there are many sad ending with 26 weekers too. it is just breaking my heart into pieces fo rall they have went through and will go through. I figure this baord would be a good place for success stories as their are so many mulitple pregnancieson here. If you could all pray for them anyways, that owuld be great!

[JustinesBaby]

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[Ange]

Hi there,

I gave birth to b/g twins at 27 weeks in August and they are doing great. I will not lie...they spent a harrowing 100 days in the NICU and between the 2 of them, hit almost every issue that was outlined in the neonatal book. It's a rollercoaster ride, when one is doing well, the other isn't and vice versa. It was by far the hardest thing my husband I have ever gone through. But.....the units and nurses are phenomenal today and so much is done to save these babies and ensure they get healthy. Did your friend get steriods before she delivered to speed up the lung development? You sound like a wonderful friend to her and just keep supporting her. She is going to have great days and bad days and might sometimes find it hard to relate to people who aren't going through what she is experiencing. I will pray for her and her little miracles. If she ever wants to talk to someone who has been through all this recently and had a positive outcome, pm me and I will send you my contact info.

Ange

[bonita23]

Thanks for the good stories. I am actually an Medical ICU nurse myself, but I know the NICU is a whole other world. My daughter was in the NICU for 8 days, nothing near what my friends are going through. They are in a good hospital with a good NICU. It has been a rolercoaster ride in this one week. She did get the steroid shots. her boys lungs aren't doing so well, he has chest tubes, and luckily one lung is reinflating. They both have infections. The girls PDA just closed, now they are waiting on the boys. The boy also has a cerebral hemmorge. Just have to keep on praying.

[PebblesUK]

Hi, I had Ellie at 26 weeks in December 2006. She was 1lb 15oz (890g). We had a rollercoaster of a ride through NICU, she was ventilated, SI-PAP, ventilated then CPAP. She came off CPAP after 10 weeks and was finally discharged aftedr 116 days on oxygen. She came off oxygen in November last year and hasn't required it since.

It's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I couldn't answer the phone as everytime I thought it was the hospital telling me she'd gone. She was bagged quite a few times, had 13 blood transfusions, fought against NEC 3 times and only now can I really talk about it without bursting into tears.

I'd recommend keeping a diary. I did but wish I wrote more in it. I just used to put her weight and how much milk she was on etc. Wish I'd put more medical things too. I don't know what the equivilant is in the UK but I found the Bliss website over here very helpful, especially the parents message boards. It was so nice knowing other people who'd been through it and read their success stories.

Also take lots of pictures. Put things next to them too so you can comprehend later how small they were. My wedding ring used to fit on Ellie's wrist as a bracelet!

For some reason boys are usually born heavier but girls are stronger. I wish your cousins friend all the luck in the world. Feel free to pm me if I can help with anything.

Ellie's doing great now. She's a little behind with her development but you'd never know she was prem anymore.

I don't know if this works but I'll try and put in a link with Ellie's first year.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/au ... id=4608140

Kind regards

Jo

[lynneyd7]

Hi Bonita,

My son was born at 27 weeks and was 1lbs 15 ozs. He spents 10 weeks in the hospital. He was venalated for 2 days than on a nasal c-pap for about 6 weeks to help him. He had bleeding in the brain, grade 3, 1 being the lowest and 4 being the highest. Luckly he did not need a shunt to drain the blood. He is now 7 1/2, in first grade and is very healthy, hardly ever gets sick. He has a lazy eye which is corrected with glasses. He did do things behind other but all kids are different. He rolled over at 5 months and walked at 23 months. He is wonderful and we are very blessed, smart as anything. Best of luck.

[bonita23]

Thanks for the success stories. I am glad to hear all your babies are doing well.

She posts on Caringbridge.com and keeps everyone updated daily. The babies are doing pretty well considering. The boy has a grade 2 bleed did have an intestinal perf, but they are fixing that, hopefully wihtout surgery. his lungs are improving. The girl is doing better than the boy, but they both still have PDA's they are trying to fix with medicine.

I know all of the medical stuff, I am an Medical ICU nurse, but the course of progression and prognosis is obviously alot different in the young than the old. These little tiny babies are fighters!!!!! The parents are wonderful loving strong parents who will get through this. Hopefully there will be a happy ending.