Posted by Cindy on July 02, 1999 at 00:00:18:
My son was born at 29 weeks due to HELLP syndrome. It's looking like he'll be coming home in the next week or two. What kind of "restrictions" should I expect? We've been very fortunate so far with no apnea problems, had an infection early on and laser surgery for retinopathy with plus disease 2 weeks ago, and another transufusion last week for low red blood cell count. Other than that it's been a matter of growing. "everyone" is getting excited about his homecoming and talking of visits to help out with my older son and "can he come to the family reunion?", and "he'll be able to come to the beach with the family in August"
What sort of impact does a preemie have on the "activity level" of a family with a 10 year old boy. ie summer camp in 2 weeks where my older son needs to be there at 9 in the AM and picked up at 5 every day for a week. And the nurse yesterday said something about an adult having to ride in the back seat with him to make sure his head doesn't slump forward and cut off his airway. Is that just the ride home or all the time for awhile? I'm just trying to get a handle on what to expect and if I need to start lowering family and friends expectations now.