Author:

Rachel of tinylittlebaby

As a parent of a premature baby on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit the one thing you are desperately waiting to hear is the magical words ‘you can take your baby home’

From the moment your baby is born you are waiting to hear those magical words, however for a lot of parents those six words also bring a lot of fear and anxiety.

 Until this time your precious baby has been looked after 24/7 by a number of different types of doctors, nurses and many other heath practitioners. There will have been monitors and high-tech equipment that you have got used to and come to rely on for reassurance whilst on the unit, you will have grown used to this level of support and that there is always someone around for advice and support. So it is understandable that you will be worried and anxious as well as relieved and excited because at home you will be person caring for your baby, a very daunting thought.

The staff on  NICU would not  be letting you take your baby home if they did not think that your baby was well enough to leave NICU and that you were not capable of taking care of your baby.

Before leaving the hospital you will have been given training in how to perform basic resuscitation.  A lot of units have  rooms where you can stay overnight with your baby with the NICU nurses just next door, this can help give you the confidence you need to know that you can take care of your baby.

Once discharged from the unit you will still have a lot of support from health professionals, some of those involved will be your GP and health visitor, A lot of units have a specialist nurse who will visit you at home soon after being discharged to offer support and advice and your child will possibly have a pediatrician who will follow their progress.

If your baby was very premature, needed oxygen or was ventilated they may be at more risk of infection, some steps you can take to reduce risk of infection are:

• Make sure everyone who comes into contact with your baby washes their hands.
• Don\’t take your baby to crowded public places
• Don\’t take your baby into large air-conditioned places like a shopping centre, supermarkets.
• Ask people who have had a cold/ fever to refrain from visiting.

Taking your baby home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit  for the first time is a very special experience and a very large milestone on your journey, take advantage of any help offered from family and friends, make sure to take time for yourself and enjoy being at home with your very special baby.

 For a baby record book designed for babies in NICU visit http://www.tinylittlebaby.co.uk

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/babies-articles/taking-your-premature-baby-home-2640271.html

About the Author

Mother of a premature baby and creator of STARTING LIFE IN NICU  a baby record book  designed for babies who start life in a neonatal intensive care unit http://www.tinylittlebaby.co.uk

My experience on the NICU inspired me to create Starting life in NICU which is a baby journal designed specifically for premature and sick babies and in 2010 I launched tinylittlebaby

Its through tinylittlebaby that I met a wonderful lady who’s help and advise was invaluable through those early days, that lady was Sue the founder and previous owner of Prem2Pram.  I am honoured to take over Prem2Pram and will continue to run the business with the passion that we both share.

Carolyn was ecstatic when she became pregnant by IVF. But a bizarre mix-up left her facing a cruel dilemma

Just before the nurses took her newborn baby from her for the final time, they asked Carolyn Savage if she would like them to make up a ‘bereavement box’ for her to take home.

She said she would — well aware that, in time, mementos of the all-too-short moments she had spent with baby Logan would help her come to terms with her loss.

Carolyn recalls watching a nurse hold one little foot while a clay imprint was made; then smiling, somehow, for photographs, as Logan lay on her chest. In all, she spent 45 minutes with her ‘feisty little man’.

Seventeen months on, Carolyn talks of the ‘bereavement process’, concluding that she and husband Sean ‘have done anger and denial and depression. I think we are kind of in acceptance now, but it’s not an altogether straight line’.

Anyone who has lost a child might feel they recognise the emotions the Savages are charting today. But they cannot possibly. For the tragedy is not that baby Logan is dead. He is just someone else’s son.

Logan was the result of an unthinkable IVF mix-up. Although Carolyn carried him for nine months, genetically he belonged to another couple….. Continue reading

Learn more about Carolyn & Sean’s  inconceivable choice in their recently published book Inconceivable

Image via Wikipedia

Cyclopia is one of the rarest forms of birth defect where the baby is born with one eye or two eyes on the forehead of the baby. The one eye is a result of the orbital sockets not forming correctly in the womb. Some cases of cyclopia have been associated with a rare chromosomal condition called Patau Syndrome, which is associated with a person having three instead of the usual two #13 chromosomes.  Cyclopia is also known as synophthalmia which is the fusion of the eyes, however true cyclopia is a rare anomaly in which the organogenetic development of the two separate eyes is suppressed.

Although babies suffering from this type of birth defect are usually still born, a baby believed to be suffering form cyclopia was born by caesarian section in March 2011 and lived for one whole day before he died in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at JJ hospital.

The term “Cyclopia” comes from the Cyclops, the one eyed giants of Greek mythology, a mythical race of lawless giant shepherds who lived in Sicily. They had a single large round eye in the centre of their forehead.

Cyclopia is not confined to the human race, it often occurs in animal populations.   There have been several reports of kittens suffering from cyclopia, these kittens rarely survive and are usually born dead or die within the first few hours of life.

It always strikes me as disturbing how fierce arguments over the right time to let unborn babies live and the need to let premature babies die coincide at around 23 or 24 weeks.

Where termination is concerned, a 24-week old baby is considered too far developed to have its life snuffed out. At the same stage a premature baby is, apparently, too expensive to be allowed to live.

The BBC2 documentary 23 Weeks: The Price Of Life examined the arguments for leaving babies born at 23 weeks to pass away without resuscitation or medical intervention.

Behind the arguments effectively to bin life at its early stages is, of course, money.

The price of life is seemingly too high for the liking of some highly-paid NHS officials – like Dr Daphne Austin, for instance.

Doctor Austin, an adviser to local health trusts, says keeping early babies alive is only prolonging their agony.

Funds would be better spent on care for cancer sufferers or the disabled.

This concerning film did much to promote and support Dr Austin’s arguments – a bit of a worry in itself – which were anchored in cash.

She said the NHS was spending around £10m a year resuscitating babies born early and keeping them alive in incubators and on ventilators.

But despite round-the-clock care from teams of experienced doctors and nurses, just nine per cent left hospital – the rest died. And only one in 100 would grow up without some form of disability – the most common including blindness, deafness and cerebral palsy.

One in 100. Is that one baby worth the expense and effort required for a fight for life?

It most definitely is, if it’s your baby.

First published at 08:57, Saturday, 12 March 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Anne Pickles

Leading NHS official Dr Daphne Austin ignited the debate this week when she said in a BBC documentary that keeping the babies alive simply “prolonged” their agony and argued the money would be better spent on cancer sufferers or the disabled.

Guidelines state doctors should not try to resuscitate babies born before 22 weeks as they are too under developed, but those born between 22 and 25 weeks should be given intensive care.

Around 350 babies a year are born at 23 weeks and nearly all are resuscitated as families cling to the hope they will survive.

Here, two mums talk of their 23-week premature babies and why NOT to give up hope.

POLICE officer Lucy Kirwan says her daughter, Matilda, was one of the lucky ones. Lucy, 30, lives in Stourbridge, West Midlands, with her husband Craig, 31, also a police officer, two-year-old son Charlie and Matilda, seven months.

“CHARLIE was born normally. So when I fell pregnant with twin girls last year it didn’t occur to us there would be problems. But at 22 weeks I was told there was a problem with the fluid around the babies.

After a weekend of not feeling very well, I went to Birmingham Women’s Hospital where a scan showed only one heartbeat. The next day, my waters broke.

Craig and I had spent the weekend on the internet working out what would happen if our baby was born at 27 or 28 weeks. We never thought we would have to worry about what would happen if she was born at 23 weeks.

A few days later I went into labour. I was only 23 weeks and six days pregnant.

We’d gone from buying things for the twins and feeling we’d got past the “safe” point of the 20-week scan to losing one baby, Alice Rose, and preparing to give birth to her very premature twin, Matilda. I didn’t have much hope.

Matilda did cry briefly when she was born, then her organs couldn’t cope and the doctors spent half an hour resuscitating her before taking her away. There were about 15 doctors and nurses in the room and alarms were going off.

But I had to give birth to her twin, then I had emergency surgery because the placenta was still attached so I wasn’t very aware of what was happening to Matilda…. continue reading

By Emma Cox
Source: The Sun

Babies born prematurely in the 23rd week of pregnancy exist on the very edge of life. A few go on to become “miracle babies”, but most die. The figures are stark, only nine out of 100 will survive, and of that number most are disabled. Is it always right to keep them alive?

“I can’t really get my head round how they’ve managed to keep her alive.”

Lucy’s daughter Matilda was born four months early at Birmingham Women’s Hospital, weighing one pound one ounce.

Within 20 seconds of her birth, her tiny body was placed into a plastic bag to prevent her losing too much heat or moisture.

She was carefully transferred into an incubator and hooked up to tubes and gadgets. Cutting-edge technology has been keeping her alive for four weeks.

Had Matilda been born one week earlier at 22 weeks – she would usually have been considered a miscarriage.

One week later at 24 weeks, her chances of survival would be much higher.

Thanks to decades of improving medical science 23 weeks is now considered the “edge of viability”. It is one week less than the limit for abortion at 24 weeks. .. continue reading

By Adam Wishart

Documentary Maker, 23 Week Babies: The Price of Life

Source: The Guardian
Author: Sarah Ditum

Baby Gaga breast milk ice cream has proved popular at the Icecreamists cafe in London.

Source: The Guardian -  Read the full article and comment

I was surprised to find out I was pregnant with you because I had taken steps to avoid it. I cried. I was young, in a rocky relationship and already over-stretched with the care of your brother. The flat was too small, money was more than tight and I was halfway through my training. But I loved motherhood and believed that new life is always a gift, so there was never any question of an abortion.

Things would have to change, of course. I gave your father an ultimatum. He had to stop drinking and give me charge of the money until we could save for a better home. At first it seemed to work.

What I didn’t know was that you had a secret locked away in your DNA. It was the silence at the ultrasound scan that gave it away. The sonographer pointed to the black-and-white fuzz on the screen. “There’s the heart … You can see it beating.” Then silence. She must have known straight away. I could make out your head. She asked to be excused while she went to get a second opinion. I knew something was very wrong. They said there was fluid around the brain. I still have the photo of that scan. Your hands are clasped together underneath your head like you are sleeping and praying at the same time. This is the position you were born in….. Continue reading

When I was young I suffered from a series of skin allergies.  The first to become apparent was an allergy to first aid sticking plasters (band aids as Americans call them) there wasn’t the range of so called hypoallergenic plasters available.  As a consequence every time I cut my self my mother would wrap huge amounts of bandages around my cuts.  As a rough and tumble boy and the youngest of 6 children my mother was always busy nursing my cuts and bruises.  Fortunately all my brothers and sisters knew that I was allergic to them, however, once I started school the teachers and school nurse would not accept that I could have an allergic reaction to plasters.  Every time I cut my self and the teacher or nurse would do what they thought right and seemingly a naughty child ripped it off within minutes.  That child was of course my self.   School would telephone my mother and tell her the story and my mum would promptly turn round and tell them I wasn’t being naughty I was allergic to plasters.  They never did believe my mum and certainly not me the poorly child!  Sometimes she would have to come in and take me home if I was badly cut.  How quickly would I react to a plaster?  Well after less than 5 minutes I would have a rash under and around the plaster, if school could force it to stay on half an hour the rash would be half way along my leg or arm, after an hour it would be the whole length of the limb.

I also became allergic to the metal backing plate on my first ever watch when I was a child.  Bought from an offer on the Weetabix box’s and with 6 months of pocket money saved up to buy it.  I wasn’t best pleased, nor were my parents!  I couldn’t wear the watch without some form of protection on the back to prevent skin contact.

Later on as a teenager working on my motorbikes or my dads car I found I was allergic to Swarfega hand cleaner, thankfully washing up liquid with a dose of sugar sprinkled would enable me to get my hands clean without any reaction it is still a method I use today – why change something found to work for the last 30 years!

Another allergy that started to show with products changing over the years has been to washing powder, best make sure of the one used and that it is well rinsed out afterwards if it isn’t really well rinsed then it will become irritable if I get very hot.

Possibly the most unusual skin allergy I discovered in my twenties.  Living at my parents house they retired to in the mountains of Wales what could I possibly be allergic to?  Not only that but it was only in winter not in summer?   No prizes for any readers guessing, I was allergic to a particular type of tree!  Or more precisely the sap of a particular type of tree, because the tree sap is chemically quite different in winter than summer, even in coniferous trees.   Our fields were surrounded by forestry commission land and in winter storms some would fall in to our fields.  Out with the chain saw and safety gear and in to the wood store they would go.  One of the local farmers that was also a foreman for the forestry commission laughed and kindly told me exactly what type of tree was causing the problem, it would seem it is quite common in forest workers.  He was definitely right when he said it would be in winter or summer not both.  Someone not in the medical profession with very practical experience of allergies, I am really glad I went to his farm that day to pick up extra food supplements for the sheep in our fields.  A fortnight later and I was free of the discomfort caused by my allergy to the trees, now I am more careful with any ‘green’ wood I cut up.  Life is like that you can learn from your own experiences and those of others as long as you have an open mind and are prepared to listen and learn.

The only food that never agreed with me growing up was prawns/shrimps and they can be a little dodgy to eat for anyone.  As they always made me sick I haven’t eaten them for over 40 years until recently.  I knowingly ate them from the soup and the fried rice from a local Chinese takeaway, well I’m not working at the moment so I could try them and if they made me ill it wouldn’t matter in terms of my work.  I was very pleased to find that I was not ill at all.

Now in my forties, my local doctors and staff in the health services are far more aware of allergies to different items and food stuffs, some are obviously known for being potentially lethal hence we have warnings on our foods in shops and restaurants.  Fortunately as an adult I have been far less likely to cut or injure my self and having worked as a medical engineer you really do take extra care, not because of worries of reactions to plasters, there are now ranges on offer that I do not react to but for reasons of being infected by anything that might be contaminated.

In modern times medical staff are far more aware of allergic reactions to foods and materials used in items of clothing, washing powders and the like.  Babies, particularly premature babies in NICU and SCBU care in hospitals are far less tolerant to environmental changes such as heat, cold, humidity.  Because of their diminutive size and proportionately high surface area of skin contact area to their relative body mass it is as important with such babies to become very quickly aware of any skin allergies that they may have as it is to become aware of any food allergies they may show at later stages in their development.

If whilst in hospital care or even once at home and the baby begins to show any signs allergic reaction then as responsible parents we should all act accordingly and as swiftly as possible to determine and remove the cause.

Even as your child grows and through to adulthood they may still display various allergies to metals, clothing, animal fibres or foods hopefully by that time they will be strong enough and experienced enough to be able to act accordingly and let friends and family know and be prepared for some of the most dangerous allergies. As someone who suffered from the discomfort of some basic skin allergies whilst growing up I am thankful of the responsible approach that my parents adopted.  Whilst frustrated at the lack of empathy and understanding of various adults in my early life I fully appreciate the greater understanding health care professionals have on such issues in the 21st century.  If the medics didn’t listen, study and learn from patients experience in the past our health care might never improve in the future. As responsible adults and as parents we must all help the professionals as they try and help us, their patients.  For those that are the most weak and vulnerable such as premature and poorly babies all the way through to our most senior citizens any person may show allergic reactions to items they have never been in contact with previously in their life or even develop an allergy as they get older such as ‘hay fever’.

Don’t be blasé and simply shrug your shoulders, do something to help the people in the ‘now’ and for fellow suffers in the future.

Author: – Andrew Edmondson
Twenty five years experience as a engineer in various roles and still learning!  The practical joker husband of Sue of prem2pram the on line premature baby store.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/allergies-articles/babies-children-and-adults-can-all-have-allergies-2533357.html#ixzz1ElkrJtTd

Yet this is the reality for the growing number of grandparents who are raising their children’s kids.

A total of 140,000 youngsters have been left in the care of grandparents or friends because their own parents are unable to look after them.

Drug and alcohol abuse are the main reasons for the growing trend, according to a shocking report by charity Grandparents Plus.

Here, grans and grandads who have had to take on parental duties talk about the difficulties, hardships and joys of raising their child’s child.

Christine, 50

FORMER care assistant Christine is married to retired mechanical engineer Tony, 70. Christine, who had to give up work on medical grounds, has five children from her first marriage. Tony has four. The couple, from Middlesbrough, have raised Christine’s ten-year-old granddaughter Angie* since she was born.

Christine says: “Angie was nine months old when we got a residence order to look after her. My daughter and her boyfriend were drinking and taking drugs. My daughter started drinking at 14 – although I didn’t know at the time.

“One night, when she was 16, I thought she was at a sleepover but found her passed out drunk in a road. It was then I saw how bad her alcohol abuse was. We tried to help but she wasn’t interested. She is the only one of my kids who turned to drink.

“She left school and started working but was laid off. At 18 she became pregnant with Angie. We then found out she was still drinking.

“She gave birth to Angie but later that day wanted to see her boyfriend and wouldn’t stay to see the midwife. She didn’t come back until the next day. I knew I’d have to take Angie on.

“Social services said they couldn’t help. They eventually put me in touch with Cafcass, the Children And Family Court Advisory And Support Service. They helped us get a residence order.

“My daughter is in prison now. Financially, it is difficult. Tony has a pension and I have incapacity benefit. All I get for Angie is child benefit.

“She talks about her mum and it upsets her. She’s intelligent and has been to a psychotherapist as she has taken her temper out on me.

“But she has calmed down. We have our little talks and are brilliant friends.”

For more info about Cafcass, visit cafcass.gov.uk or call 0844 353 3350.

Author: Nikki Watkins

Read the full story in The Sun

Babies outgrown their clothes so quickly, that paying £15 for a babygro just doesn’t make economic sense.  Don’t panic you can still dress your baby in gorgeous outfits without breaking the bank, for example the three piece baby boys outfit pictured below sized to fit babies weighing between 5-8lbs is on sale at just £4.55

For baby boys weighing between 8 and 10lbs there is a five piece appliquéd outfit at just £9.99, now that’s what I call a bargain.  To see all of this weeks special offers please visit us at http://www.prem2pram.co.uk

When I was younger, I never wanted ­children. Never fantasised about what my future family may look like as a teenager, or day-dreamed of baby names in quieter moments at work.

It’s not that I didn’t like children, but I could see how much they needed and the younger me wanted other things so much more.

Even when my little sister had a child at 27 the thought of ever having one of my own didn’t cross my mind; motherhood wasn’t the logical conclusion to my life.

Until I fell in love at 29. Then my world changed. Instead of seeing everything through a sort of selfish soft-focus I suddenly knew with complete clarity that I wanted a family.

The shift in my priorities was enormous. It was emotional and physical.

I was Editor of Cosmopolitan at the time — the job I had waited my whole career as a journalist for — but running alongside my ambition was my new and overwhelming need to start a family.

Author:  Lorraine Candy
Read the full story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1353032/Why-women-resent-having-fourth-child.html#ixzz1DRdpFSVA

Tanya Walsh, 39, is already expecting number 13 with hubby Tom O’Leary, 42, next month.

She bragged on the website Bebo that she is “addicted to children”.

Tanya lists her favourite sports as “eating chocolate and having babies“. And she tells on Facebook how she “can’t wait” for episodes of cult TV series Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.

Haringey Council in North London has housed the family in a huge semi in Muswell Hill, heaping misery on posh neighbours. The clan is estimated to cost taxpayers around £72,000 a year.

Author: Gary O’shea

Read the full story in The Sun

The new medication called Makena (hydroxyprogesterone caproate) is a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone which is given in the form of weekly injections to women carrying a single fetus with no other risk factors.

A premature birth also known as preterm birth refers to a labor which occurs at least three weeks before a baby’s due date.

The rate of preterm birth has increased more than 35 percent in the last 25 years in the US and more than a half million babies — one in every 8 — are born prematurely each year. The cause for such preterm deliveries, however, remains elusive and unknown in many situations.
Preterm babies are at a greater risk of developing a wide variety of health and developmental complications such as lung problems, learning disabilities, and dying during infancy and even later on in childhood.

Read the full article

If you or a loved one has given birth to a premature baby then please visit Prem2Pram the on line premature baby store.

The Daily Telegraph reports that following a review of the Vetting and Barring scheme, criminal record checks will only be carried out on those who have intensive contact with the young.

A potential 9m adults – who came into contact with children once a week or more – had been subject to checks.

Home Secretary Theresa May suspended it last June so a review could be held.

A Home Office spokesperson said an official announcement – which affects England, Wales and Northern Ireland – would be made shortly.

The previous government set up the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) in 2009 in response to the murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in Soham in 2002, by school caretaker Ian Huntley.

Halting the initiative last summer the home secretary called it “draconian”, and the review was launched in October.

The Telegraph has reported that it will now be scaled back significantly – with half the number of people affected – and the emphasis will be shifted on to employers to ensure that the right staff are screened.

Source: BBC News

Read the full article

Health care support worker Ruth Snape, 29, expressed the milk every three hours after Jakoby arrived nine weeks early on November 25 at Burnley’s newborn centre.

The milk was fed through a tube to Jakoby who was too weak to suckle properly, and Mrs Snape was keen to give him the best start possible.

As too much milk had been collected to store in the freezer at their home in Feniscowles, Blackburn, Mrs Snape and her husband Andy, 36, asked to keep some in the hospital’s freezer.

But when Mrs Snape’s husband Andy went to collect the milk last week, he was told it had been mistakenly thrown away.

Read the fully story

Author: Catherine Pye

Source:  Guardian.co.uk

Author: Stuart Jeffries