36 weekers

[Zoey]

My little girl was born at 36 weeks, and I've found that she doesn't fit in with the prems or with the full term bubs. Has anyone else found that being born at 36 weeks is kinda an awkward place to be? A lot of people assume that because it's so close to 37wks that her development & everything else wouldn't be affected:ecomcity:, but she's a little behind with most things (1-2 months) & isn't growing quite as quickly as the peads would like.

I don't feel that she deserves to be called a prem because she is so close to term, but she doesn't fit in with the term babies either... so where does she belong? Just looking to see if anyone else feels awkward as if they dont fit in any group:confused:

[Shakey]

my DD was born at 35 +5 (was acting like a 34wker though), so pretty close to 36wks, I kinda felt the same as you at the beginning

but in thoes last few weeks of pregnancy, babies still have alot of growing and developing to do, and every baby is different, I know 34/35wkr (DD's premmie friends) and they are mths ahead in milestones than my DD, even though she was born at a little bit later gestation than them, and if you didn't know that they were born early, you would have no idea just by looking at them, where as my DD, you can tell that she was early,

your DD is a premmie, just a late premmie (if thats a term lol) just like mine

[babyflash]

Hi Ladies,
My DD was born at what i thought was 38 weeks however it turned out that she was in fact only 36 weeks.

She was 5lb 13oz born and 48cm long. We spent the first 2.5 weeks of her life in the special care nursery as she was to little to suck on my BB , I have always had trouble fitting in as she has always been so small and little. Everywhere we go its like oh your daughter is to tiny to be walking and i feel like sometimes im must be doing someting wrong why isnt my my liitle girl the same size as other kids and it really gets me down sometimes.

I am proud to say that im still BF my DD and she has met all of her milestones some on target and some a little later but met them all the same. It is unfair the way some people look at you and talk to you when your baby is different my DF and myself are both short people as well.

Im very happy to meet other mums of "little" babies to share things with. Sorry for the rant and if its a bit off topic but i had to say it LOL

[Nowhere]

hugs hun, I know what you mean My dd was 36 weeker, she is afected in many many ways not only from her being born at 36 weeks but still im sure it didnt help

HUGS

[Zoey]

Thanks, feeling a little better now that I know I'm not the only one that feels that way:yes:

[*~alegna~*]

:yes: I agree My DS was 36wker & DD was 35wker so still on the "latepremmie" side like JO (Gizzy) said.

Even though DD was earlier gest. delivered she thrived quicker than DS even though Ds was a great weight for 36wks (6lb13oz) & DD was on 5lb2oz. He didn't take as well to feeding etc & was a lot "younger" than DD at birth (if that makes sense). They both are pretty normal kids but I still get the "OMG DD is soooo little" she's 7 months now & admitadely Small than average but she's within the weight scale so I'm not worried. I'm not a very big person and like you & your DD think she'll just be short & slight framed like me.

I feel frustrated sometimes when I get comments from ppl I know saying that neither DD or Ds should be classed as prem becuase If they are then their kids should be as well (delivered 37-38wks) as far as they're concerned thats early delivery too......that drives me mad!!! I'd give my right foot for a full term big fatty boom-bar baby....Having an early baby isn't a badge of honour...Well not for me anyway. It's frustrating to have to continually justify ourselves...:hair:

Sorry girls got alittle carried away....:laughing:..I totally understand, agree & relate Zoda! :hugs:

[bellalika]

My bub was born at 35 weeks, 4 days. People kept (and keep) saying that he 'wasn't that prem', but he still acts like he is 'that prem'. He spent 11 days in the SCN before being allowed to take him home with close monitoring from medical staff.

I use to hate going out with people saying he looked so tiny. Now they say he is huge for his age. He doesn't look like prem anymore as at 24 weeks he now weights 8.25kg

He still behaves like a 12 week old in some ways, but not in others. No matter what anyone says, I still love him to bits and wouldn't want him any other way.

There is a lot of understanding in the community for parents with severe prems, but I have found that most people appear to think that 'just a little prem' means that there shouldn't be any problems. They also are less sympethetic to the emotions of the parents of babies born 'only' this prematurely.

I could be wrong, but these are just my experiences. Our MCHN has been great with encouragement, as has the new paediatrician (we gave the first one the flick). My mothers group has been really supportive also.

[StrawberryTheMilkshake]

My baby was born on the day i ticked over to 36 weeks. My 'turn over' day was Tuesday and i went into labour Tuesday night. So i class her as a 35/ 36 weeker.

She was 7 pounds born exactly, and was with me the whole time. No special care nursery, etc.

She is four now and off to school next year. If she was born on her due date or even two weeks late, she wouldnt be going until 2010.

So im hoping she will be ok!

Anyway, she is a very intelligent, happy little girl. Her only issues which i dont know if its from being born early but she is very sensitive and highly emotional at times.
(Unusually). She loves people so much and if another child says to her 'i dont want to be your friend' she cries for ages!

As a baby, i wouldnt have said she was behind in anyway. She walked a little later, 13 months, she wasnt a great feeder (but still isnt) and its hard to know what she was affected by by coming early.

But i think she is wonderful ! Give your babies time and im sure they will be fine.

Because she was a month early i do class her as being premature.

Hope thats some help.

STM.

:wave:

[sshellzp]

I totally know what you mean. My ds was born at 36+5 and hes not heaps behind but hes not on par either. Its frustrating.

[TwoBlue]

Yep I understand how you feel completely..

My DS#1 (who is 4.5 now) was a 36 weeker...
It was such a hard time, he was in NICU for 10 days and was very unwell..
He has developed on time for many things but in lots of areas was behind and still is behind in many ways..
We have always had comments like
"Oh, 36 weeks so not "really" a premmie" :hair:

:hugs: to you and your precious Premmie

[~Emmylou~]

I always felt a bit like that - my DD was born at 36 weeks but she never had any dramas and she came home at 3 days old...so although she was a month early everything was pretty much as it would be for a term baby. So we kinda felt a bit in between too.

[3BoysBlue]

DS1 was 35wks I kind of felt strange by it also
I often had people say that he wasn't that prem and :ecomcity::ecomcity:

He still spent 5wks in SCN before he came home and hes had lots of weight gain issues but was pretty on track with hes development hes speech is a bit behind but he did all the things at the later side of normal


Premature is classed as a baby born for before 37wks
:hugs::hugs::hugs:

[MadCatR]

I feel the same with my DD who was 7 weeks early, she was a good size, and continually had the question of are you sure you had your dates right. In the SCN she was one of the big bubs at 2.1 kilos. From what I was told they only do follow ups for bubs that are born before 32 weeks. But then the other professionals aren't as used to dealing with prems. Luckily my mother's group are really great, although many of them are only now realising that she was 'that prem', she is one of the biggest looking bubs but still not doing half what the youngest are doing (6 weeks difference). I still sometimes feel like we don't quite belong anywhere, but then I was never told of any support groups for parents of prems. There are often different birthing situations (with added stress of the often unexpectedness) that it is hard to relate to mother's of full term bubs.

I read somewhere about how parent's of prems go through a grieving processes (the loss of the remaining pregnancy etc) but at the same time feel guilty for being sad about these losses when you still have a beautiful baby to hold. I know I felt this mixture of emotions. I don't think that unless you've been through it you can understand (I know I didn't before).

Sorry babbling and going off topic as usual.

[TrulyBlessed]

Hey guys just wondering if I can join in on this thread?

My DD was born on Wednesday & according to my scan she would of been 36w2d but going by lmp on a typical 28day cycle 35w1d.

I have no idea what to expect but she passed the hearing test & red eye test with flying colours.

[bellalika]

congrats on joining the ever changing but always amazing world of motherhood to a prem.

I'm glad all the tests went well. Hopefully all others will too.

[TrulyBlessed]

Thanks for the welcome.

Is there anything I should be expecting?

Is it normal that she sleeps more than what my DS did when he was FT?

[kotakai]

Thanks for the welcome.

Is there anything I should be expecting?

Is it normal that she sleeps more than what my DS did when he was FT?

Congrats!

My DS2 was a 33 weeker & pretty much all he did was sleep. I'd give him a feed & he'd be straight back to sleep, pretty much no awake time for weeks. He's now 16 weeks & still sleeps more than my other 2. Sleeping is when they grow & get stronger, which is why sometimes the nurses don't want you picking them up too much as just giving them a cuddle can really wear them out.

[TrulyBlessed]

Kotakai - Thanks for that hun. I wasn't aware of that, wasn't told cuddling could make them more sleepy.

I've been finding yesterday that she was getting very sleepy on the boob too while feeding so have switched to EBM in a bottle which she seems to want more of.

A whole new ball game this.

[kotakai]

Yeah, I got really upset a couple of times that they wouldn't let me hold me (as we didn't get our first hold till day 5 & he spent 15 days under the lights so we didn't get many cuddles anyway), until one of the nurses explained it's better for him to be left to sleep as much as possible.

[TrulyBlessed]

Well I think I will limit my cuddle time to feed time then for now.

She has her Dr appt on Fri which will be her first since leaving hospital.

[kotakai]

If she's home, it might be OK. I think it's worse when they're there as they have a nurse poking & prodding every couple of hours.

Good luck at the drs.

[HoopDeeDoo]

:wave::wave::wave:

I have had 2 prems, DS1 was born at 35 +3 and DS2 34 +6 and it sux when people don't really class them as prem.

People with full term bubs just don't get what the big deal is when they see how healthy your baby/toddler is. But they didn't see/experience what you went through at the time of their birth and while your baby is in hospital.

Just after you've had a baby your hormones and emotions are so intense that every feels so much more than normally.

And I suppose 10 days doesn't sound very long for your baby to be in NICU, but it feel like forever when you have to go home without them, or let other people do the things that as a mother you are supposed to do. Expressing milk every 3 hours instead of just having a baby who can feed is exhausting. The days that you aren't allowed to hold them is awful.

I don't doubt that it's much worse for the babies and parents with babies born much earlier, but it's hard when our later prems aren't acknowledged as being prem.

Anyhoo as for the development it really just depends on the child DS1 had no weight issues, he put it on very quickly, he was slower to crawl, walk and talk - but not enough to worry about. DS2 was so hard to get weight on him, but he is so smart he speaks clearer than DS1. He was walking by his first birthday, he was crawling by 8 months.

They are now 2 and nearly 3

[bellalika]

My boy just got a tooth! :smiliedance:He still cant push up off the floor when on his tummy, but he got a tooth! Sorry, just had to share. Its the first thing he has done 'on time' and I'm kind of excited. He bites, so i think it may be bottle time, but it's a tooth! Yay Bubby! :smiliedance:

[kotakai]

:smiliedance: for getting his 1st tooth!

[jacethisa]

long time lurker but...

our DD's were born a day apart and my DD was born at 36 weeks as well..

she is doing ok now but in the beginning I noticed some differences.. Especially when starting solids.. I did ask a dr if maybe her gut wasn't as mature as it should have been and all he said was "its a possibility"

[Zoey]

Congrats on bubs tooth bellalika

Samantha had an appt with a pead yesterday. She's passed the 8kg mark!!!!:smiliedance: She was 8.09kg! I'm so excited by that! He's finally happy with growth & development... so no more pead appointments by the looks of it.:yes:

Also found out bubs has an anal fissure... the pead put her on Lactocor to soften her bowels as she has been constipated for 4 months, so I'm hoping that'll work.:fingerscrossed:

[flick82]

Hi all, My DD2 was born at 37wks exactly, but i have noticed & so have the nurses at her checkups that she is about a month behind with her development. I feel this was because i was induced ( due to Obstetric Cholestasis) and she wasnt ready to be here just yet. People think because she was a good weight 8pd and had now probs at birth that everything is fine, I know its not 37wks but i feel the same.

[cocobambino]

I also had a 36 weeker, we thought she was only going to be 2 weeks early but seems they were wrong, I had a cesearean due to trying to be induced for a week and it not working I had polyhydro and was HUGE and uncomfortable which is why they had agreed to induce me thinking I only had 2 weeks to go anyway.

She was infact 36 weeks and had problems sucking, was in a humidicrib and had severe jaundace she isnt maturing like most 4 yr olds and still acts like a baby sometimes which is so frustrating

[Ky]

My DS was a 36 weeker, but apart from spending 26 hours in neo-nates getting his blood sugars up, he has been fine.

He is now a very bright 5 ½yo in kinder at school and in a special group doing year 1 work.

He was 13lb 2oz/5.94kg and 55.5cm long at birth and now 21kg and 117cm tall. He reached most of his milestones almost exactly to the day that his big sister (37 weeker), did ie. sat alone at 3 months, crawling at 5 months, climbing at 5 months, cruising at 7 months, running at 12 months (didn't let go and walk first :hair:). They even got their teeth at the same ages!

He does have a hearing loss, but I am unsure whether this is due to prematurity or just how he is ...

[Melly_11]

My boys were 36 weekers, and it is an awkward time. They were 2.4 and 2.7 kilos and perfect in relation to breathing etc. One of them needed a shot of oxygen but after that they didnt leave my side.

In the first year they definitely were a month behind in everything. They were much more like the Feb 2007 bubs than the Jan ones, but size wize were big for Jan bubs!