Re: preemie-l Hello and New Mom Questions
Eileen Schneyman (eschneym@photon.poly.edu)
Wed, 5 Jun 1996 01:29:29 -0400 (EDT)
Leslie,
First congratulations and condolences to your family. It must be hard to
be so happy, yet missing one of your children. You asked a few
questions, some of which I have seen answers to, yet I felt it important
to add my two cents!
First, I did not hold one of my daughters (born at 27 weeks) until she
was four weeks old. I held her for about 20 minutes, then the next day
she went back on the vent. I did not hold her again for another four
weeks. It was the worst. We sat by her and stroked her and sang, etc.
but I never felt right until I held her again. I cried a lot at home
(rarely at the hospital) and one weekend just refused to go to visit (I
pretty much lost it). But, the wait will be hard, but the end result
worth it!
Regarding preemie diapers. The hospital we were at never used them. The
nurses said they did not absorb nearly as well as the newborn size. We
just folded the top of the diaper down.
Everyone has said that preemie clothes do not last long! Well Nicole
wore them until between 6 and 7 months. Not all preemies grow at fast
rates. We got more use out of the preemie clothes than I ever imagined.
Like Libby said, it did wonders for me to be able to dress her in clothes
that fit her. Actually, I still have problems finding clothes to fit her
that are age appropriate (she remained very tiny, but that is another
story). On the flip side, they are expensive, but I did find some
good sales. There is a cheap brand sold at Toys R Us called Lightening
Bug or Triplets. They run extremely small and I was able to use the
newborn size while they were still about 3 1/2 - 4 pounds. These are
plain stretchies, not cute outfits. They come in packages of three for
under $10. But I disagree highly with the number needed. If I had
clothes in their isolettes, the nurses would dress them every day (my
hospital did not supply undershirts on a daily basis for babies in
isolettes). They would change the outfit each day, and it usually needed
to be changed at least that often, if not more. As they are learning to
drink from a bottle, they tended to dribble, drool etc. The bottle with
the vitamins was the worst and stained most clothes. Also, mine would
spit up at least one feeding per day until we found out about their
lactose intolerance and changed their formula. Unfortunately they were 4
1/2 months before we found out. So I would find many CHEAP outfit to use
in the hospital (at least 5) so you are not doing laundry each night.
There was one day where Nicole spit up each feeding, and was changed
three times before there were no clothes left!
Only best wishes!
Eileen
Mom to Alyssa and Nicole 5/26/91 due 8/22/91 - just turned 5, where did
the time go? BTW, Nicole hit 25 pounds at her five year check-up. Of
course she had her clothes on, but I had taken off her shoes!
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eschneym@photon.poly.edu
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