Parents of preemies, what concerns you?

My son was born at 33/34 weeks, and spent a month in NICU. I felt like I didn't know WHY he was in an open crib or the closed crib thing...I understood it was part of the criteria but I didn't understand what was necessary for them to meet the criteria.

I was rarely able to speak to the doctor. My husband had to work 10 days after I came home from the hospital (he's in the army), and I had a csection, a 22 month old, and we shared a vehicle so I often wasn't able to go see my newborn until evening.

I felt like they misled us about how soon Jackson would be going home. Every week it was "only another week or 2." It felt never ending and I felt like I was getting my hopes up for nothing.

We were able to hold and feed our son, he just had a really difficult time learning to eat and gaining weight.

My first was a preemie but didn't need the nicu. The hardest part for me was him not gaining weight like he should and he had really bad reflux. It was concerning for me because the doctors kept saying he had to gain. Now that I've been through it I know that I didn't need to worry cause he is just fine now at four years old.

My best friend had 26 week twins. She couldn't hold them for about 8 weeks. She could touch them after about 4. She always knew what was going on because she made friends with the staff.
Her boys were in the nicu for 3 1/2 months.

I had a lot of concerns my son was 27 weeks gestation when I had to have him emergancy c-section. I was able to touch and hold my son in the NICU and had great doctors that kept me in the loop as to what was going on. What I was worried about was 1. Him not learning to eat from a bottle 2. Him forgetting to breath while eating 3. him dieing from SIDS 4. him getting RSV (he got the shot every month for the first fall/winter he was alive) 5. him not growing 6. him being developmentally behind ect

My twins were born at 34wks and only stayed 4 days in the NICU. Luckily, I was able to hold them shortly after birth.

My dd was born at 36 weeks and only spent about 6 hrs in the nicu. She is now 14 months old and although the dr isnt concerned, im concerned. I feel like she isnt hitting her milestones fast enough although the dr seems to think its normal. She is cruising and standing just a little on her own, but no where close to being reaady to walk. She started crawling at 12 months and sitting on her own around 9 months. Her sight is not good at all. She has had glasses since 7 months and she was very,very irratable as a baby...until just recently. I feel like she is very inteligent though. She understands so much more than my other kids for this age.

My oldest son was in the NICU for 3 weeks. He was born at 35 weeks with kidney disease. The doctors were very upfront and honest with me from the start. They told me best and worse case scenarios.

When he contracted NEC they encouraged me to be with him even though he had to many wires and tubes to be held those 10 days.

They called me daily in my room(I had a c-section) and when I went home between visits to give me updates. They explained everything about his treatment when something changed.

Before he came home my boyfriend and I got to stay in a small room just our son and us. We already knew exactly what to do because of the wonderful staff so we didn't need to get help once.

We chose to keep him indoors other then doctors appointments the first couple months. He was vaccinated because we felt he needed the extra protection.

He came home on a 3 hour schedule which made it so much easier as a young first time parent. Developmentally he was slightly behind but so were my next two full term babies(based on the averages anyway.) It never concerned me, he's wonderful smart 5 year old.

what was going through your mind? 

I was afraid that my son would bond more with the NICU nurses than with me since i didn't get to hold him for 10 days. I was also afraid of him taking a turn for the worse and me being at home 30 minutes away. My heart sank when the NICU called me on my house phone one day but they just needed my consent to do a procedure. I was terrified of all the things they told me to stay away from..... wood heat, smokers, public areas. The thought of future medical problems kept me awake at night.... brain bleeds, fluid behind the eyes, rsv, develoomental delays, reflux, breathing problems.

Although my son wasn't a preemie he was a very sick baby. The hardest part for me was not knowing what was wrong. Every single doctor was on a DIFFERENT page.