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Hello,
I'm the proud parent of a micro preemie born at 23weeks...spent about 4months at the NICU and has been home for over a month.
My question for you NICU parents is, we've called "early intervention" just so they could come assess our son to make sure we're on the right track.
The appointment is for this Tuesday, they come to our home.
I'm thinking however, would it be better to postpone it a few weeks, give our son time to grow and develop a bit more.
What I hate to happen is for these folks to come to our house, and determine we'll hes doing everything he should be doing for a month old...let's come back next month and reassess...when in essence we could've just skipped this one.
Being winter and all, i'd rather limit the exposure to the outside world/germs etc.
If that'd be the case, I'd rather just wait a few more weeks.
Hi. Mine wasnt quite as little as yours. My now 14yr old was a 27weeker. after 3months in NICU she came home and we too had EI come to our home for assesements and whatnot. We took her home in late November and I clearly remember my worries about germs and all too!!! But you know, these people are used to fragile children, and will take every precaution. Theyre not like taking your baby to the mall and exposing him to all those sneezing/coughing/havent washed their hands all day public. Hey,mine was 6mnths old before I ventured to the mall and even that was a really short in/out because of all the looks/comments we got (i was lugging around the monitor too and i dont know what theyre like now, but 14yrs ago, they were the size of an average VCR machine!)
And remember, just like everything else with these little ones, amazing and awesome strides are made within the span of a day. So a month is HUGE for them. These EI people are trained to see any and every little thing so can often pick up on something that we as parents dont.
You know, when I first brought my girl home, and i was really worried about something, Id still call our fav. staff from the NICU. Depending on your relationship w/them, you might think about doing the same. Also, did your hospital set you up w/a support group? Ours did and we really leaned on each other a lot, its helpful to have someone else to call on that is going through the same, or maybe is just a few weeks/months before you.
I'm totally here for you if you need someone to vent to or whatnot, but again, its been 14yrs for me, and the world of preemies has exploded since then. When mine was born, she was one of the smallest/youngest to survive there. And she wsnt expected to make it. The earliest one who survived was a 25weeker. So I really think youd benifit from someone whos more recent. But Im more than happy to talk w/you in any way.
Congrats on your new son, babies are such a blessing and when one comes into the world early, it just makes it all that much more of a miracle when you finally get to bring them home.
Best of luck to you and your son!
Hi Tiffela74,
Thanks very much for the info and encouragement.
The wife and I just cant help being overly cautious in rgds to visitors (haven't had any yet) just being winter and all..
You're right, the rate of premature children being born today is just un believable..the NICU we were at which was rated one of the best in the country...seeing 23-24-25 weekers was almost a daily occurence...24 being the most common I would say.
thank god for the advancements in technology that allow our little angels to thrive
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiffela74
Hi. Mine wasnt quite as little as yours. My now 14yr old was a 27weeker. after 3months in NICU she came home and we too had EI come to our home for assesements and whatnot. We took her home in late November and I clearly remember my worries about germs and all too!!! But you know, these people are used to fragile children, and will take every precaution. Theyre not like taking your baby to the mall and exposing him to all those sneezing/coughing/havent washed their hands all day public. Hey,mine was 6mnths old before I ventured to the mall and even that was a really short in/out because of all the looks/comments we got (i was lugging around the monitor too and i dont know what theyre like now, but 14yrs ago, they were the size of an average VCR machine!)
And remember, just like everything else with these little ones, amazing and awesome strides are made within the span of a day. So a month is HUGE for them. These EI people are trained to see any and every little thing so can often pick up on something that we as parents dont.
You know, when I first brought my girl home, and i was really worried about something, Id still call our fav. staff from the NICU. Depending on your relationship w/them, you might think about doing the same. Also, did your hospital set you up w/a support group? Ours did and we really leaned on each other a lot, its helpful to have someone else to call on that is going through the same, or maybe is just a few weeks/months before you.
I'm totally here for you if you need someone to vent to or whatnot, but again, its been 14yrs for me, and the world of preemies has exploded since then. When mine was born, she was one of the smallest/youngest to survive there. And she wsnt expected to make it. The earliest one who survived was a 25weeker. So I really think youd benifit from someone whos more recent. But Im more than happy to talk w/you in any way.
Congrats on your new son, babies are such a blessing and when one comes into the world early, it just makes it all that much more of a miracle when you finally get to bring them home.
Best of luck to you and your son!
Hello,
I'm the proud parent of a micro preemie born at 23weeks...spent about 4months at the NICU and has been home for over a month.
My question for you NICU parents is, we've called "early intervention" just so they could come assess our son to make sure we're on the right track.
The appointment is for this Tuesday, they come to our home.
I'm thinking however, would it be better to postpone it a few weeks, give our son time to grow and develop a bit more.
What I hate to happen is for these folks to come to our house, and determine we'll hes doing everything he should be doing for a month old...let's come back next month and reassess...when in essence we could've just skipped this one.
Being winter and all, i'd rather limit the exposure to the outside world/germs etc.
If that'd be the case, I'd rather just wait a few more weeks.
What are your thoughts on this?
many thanks
I had a 23 weeker, also. She's almost 5 now. But she came home at the end of summer, as opposed to the middle of winter. Even then, I was still very cautious about taking her anywhere to have her exposed to anything. At the same time, you have to gradually expose them to new germs so they can build their immune system up (that's what the doctors told me anyway). I wanted to get Early Intervention out as soon as I could. Unfortunately, it took our local one forever to do so, and I had originally thought she came home from the NICU too early bcuz she wasn't quite mastering bottle feeding. Turns out mom was right! She ended up having to go on a feeding tube a few months later.
I say go with whatever your gut instint is. Your mom. You are with your baby everyday, all day mostly. Now if others would have trusted my gut instinct, things might have happened differently.
youre more than welcome..
i bet youre probably getting tons of friends/family that all want to come and gush over your new boy (as they well should!!) and as much as you want to share, your #1 concern is keeping your boy healthy, what really helped w/us was we told everyone our baby girls immune system was still developing and we had been recommended to keep her at the same visitor schedule she had in the NICU. She was in a 3rd level too, and they were (as im sure yours was!!) very strict on who/when/how long anyone could visit. So, when she came home, we went off that and tweaked it to our own. One visitor every other day (and sometimes we SAID there was someone else scheduled. hehehe) kept em at 15min. noone allowed in if they had any sort of cold/sniffles/whatever. And bless them, our NICU sent home a huge bag of those hand/arm scrubbies w/that anti-bacterial soap in em and we had everyone wash for 5 full min. before coming to touch her. Everyone understood, and was good with it.
Do you have a good ped. whos got a background w/preemies? That can make a world of difference.
Keep the faith in your son, he's gonna do great. These kids that start out life fighting so hard, carry that with them. My little one that they thought would either not make it, or live w/severe probs, well, shes in honors classes and taller than I am. Ya might want to start savings now for your boys future food bills.
I would get the ball rolling ASAP. Sometimes it takes a while for some EI groups to get it together. I had several problems w/ my son's. Good luck!
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My now 14yr old was a 27weeker. after 3months in NICU she came home and we too had EI come to our home for assesements and whatnot. We took her home in late November and I clearly remember my worries about germs and all too!!! But you know, these people are used to fragile children, and will take every precaution. Theyre not like taking your baby to the mall and exposing him to all those sneezing/coughing/havent washed their hands all day public. 
