Originally Posted by hevs

Its not all about size mate ;)

Its mainly to do with gestational age. Twins mature in utero a lot quicker that singletons because they are expected to be born around the 35/36 week mark anyway. So even if twins are born at 27 weeks (same as Flynn) they would be expected to be bigger and more developed (as they are not technically, so premmie) than a singleton. By mature, again i don't mean size, i mean internally, heart, stomach and the all important LUNGS!

Anything over the 28 week mark is considered a "viable" pregnancy and the difference between the 24 weekers and the 28 weekers is astounding. Also the difference between the twin and triplets and how well they do in comaparison ie. the speed they leave NICU as opposed to the singles births is quite marked.

The 24 weekers all have chronic lung disease, it seems on our ward, without exception. The ones over 28 weeks don't. The ones between, like Flynn...well its a lottery. Flynn has small patches, hence he's taking a while to breathe fully on his own.

Also the PDA in the heart can cause huge probs, that again is more often shut, or small in the over 28 weekers. Flynn had a large PDA (this is open in the womb because they don't breathe oxygen and closes a few days before birth in a term baby) and the medicine they gave him to close it caused a massive food intolerance. (as, in certain cases it can) But thanks to the 5 doses he managed to have his PDA is now classed as "small" and until it causes him problems they won't be dealing with it again, hopefully it will just close.

Theres a big list but i don't want to bore you. Anyway what i am saying is that every single baby has there own set of things to deal with and how they cope with that is dependant on many factors. But the lenght of time to reach gestational weight, breathing etc is, in a large amount of cases determined by gestational age over weight. (thats what the docs tell me anyway ;) )

We are just so grateful that we live near the city as there are only 4 neo natal intensive care units in the whole of Vic, all of them around Melbourne and only the Monash on our side of the city :eek:

Originally Posted by hevs

Thanks all..

OK!

Another great day for Flynn. I didn't see him today :( but Dad and Leah tell me he's looking cracking. Talking of cracking, thats what he does, every 6 hours when they put the Cpap back on. They are now doing 6 hourly rotations and I've just spoken to the night nurse who tells me they are all living in fear of his ferocious temper when they have to put the tubes back in. He throws an absolute wobbly and punches them like mad (If you can imagine being beaten with a cotton bud ;) ) But joking apart i'm dreading the terrible twos already :eek:

He has also reached the lofty heights of wearing clothes. BUT yesterday he was in an outfit only suitable to wear doing the YMCA at the Mardi Gras, and Matt tells me todays was worse, it had purple pansys on FFS :mad:

Anyhow I sent them armed with some beautiful 00000 clothes from Auntie Melibeam and they got them on eventually (slightly tricky with a long line in his foot!) and he looks slightly more like a male now :D And they were only a bit on the big side....

He is also managing 9 mls an hour of feeds (tomorrow he may have a whole two teaspoons :beer: )

Originally Posted by geordie mandy

That sounds reasuring that at least he can start wearing mini clothes.
Silly question but would dolls clothes fit (tiny tears size dolls)?
Mandy

Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack

wow Hevs. I've learnt something. Thanks for taking the trouble to write about it after what you have gone through. I do know my brother set off an alarm once, that's all I know.

Originally Posted by geordie mandy

That sounds reasuring that at least he can start wearing mini clothes.
Silly question but would dolls clothes fit (tiny tears size dolls)?
Mandy

Originally Posted by hevs

Yes, those would be about the right size. The little hats they wear for the Cpap are knitted especially from dolls patterns! I want a black and red striped one in time for his first footie match in Feb!! :D

These premee clothes are so tiny, they didn't make them this small when i had my other son. He was only 6 weeks prem, but grew very quickly:)

Originally Posted by HUP

The ringing of the phone is not our most favourite sound. There is always that thought running through your head "Oh god I hope Flynns ok!". So asleep this morning at 6.30 when the phone rings there is some major trepidation.

As I answer the phone my heart jumps to my mouth as the caller identifies herself as one of the nurses from Flynns ward. Oh god whats wrong now I think to myself?

The nurse then tells me that they are running out of milk and only have enough for his 7 o'clock feed. They have used all the frozen stuff as well. Well thats a huge relief.

I go to the fridge and pack up the fruits of Hev's labour from yesterday and some extra bottles from the freezer. Thanfully being Sunday the traffic is very light.

Upon arrival at the hospital I hand over the milk. Its time for his cares which means nappy change and temperature. So I do the temp and alls fine. I then come to the nappy.........eeeeewwww its not pretty. The nurse holds some of the cables out of the way while I tidy him up.

I then see one of his doctors and they say that they are going to change his feeds to 2 hourly (apparantly quite a big step). Also he is being allowed off his CPAP (nose prongs feeding him air...shouldn't that be NPFHA? :) ) for 8 hours at a time (8 on then 8 off). When we go in later we will be allowed to give him his first bath (You see he's got to be a pom over a month for a bath :) )

Originally Posted by HUP

The ringing of the phone is not our most favourite sound. There is always that thought running through your head "Oh god I hope Flynns ok!". So asleep this morning at 6.30 when the phone rings there is some major trepidation.

As I answer the phone my heart jumps to my mouth as the caller identifies herself as one of the nurses from Flynns ward. Oh god whats wrong now I think to myself?

The nurse then tells me that they are running out of milk and only have enough for his 7 o'clock feed. They have used all the frozen stuff as well. Well thats a huge relief.

I go to the fridge and pack up the fruits of Hev's labour from yesterday and some extra bottles from the freezer. Thanfully being Sunday the traffic is very light.

Upon arrival at the hospital I hand over the milk. Its time for his cares which means nappy change and temperature. So I do the temp and alls fine. I then come to the nappy.........eeeeewwww its not pretty. The nurse holds some of the cables out of the way while I tidy him up.

I then see one of his doctors and they say that they are going to change his feeds to 2 hourly (apparantly quite a big step). Also he is being allowed off his CPAP (nose prongs feeding him air...shouldn't that be NPFHA? :) ) for 8 hours at a time (8 on then 8 off). When we go in later we will be allowed to give him his first bath (You see he's got to be a pom over a month for a bath :) )

Originally Posted by HUP

The ringing of the phone is not our most favourite sound. There is always that thought running through your head "Oh god I hope Flynns ok!". So asleep this morning at 6.30 when the phone rings there is some major trepidation.

As I answer the phone my heart jumps to my mouth as the caller identifies herself as one of the nurses from Flynns ward. Oh god whats wrong now I think to myself?

The nurse then tells me that they are running out of milk and only have enough for his 7 o'clock feed. They have used all the frozen stuff as well. Well thats a huge relief.

I go to the fridge and pack up the fruits of Hev's labour from yesterday and some extra bottles from the freezer. Thanfully being Sunday the traffic is very light.

Upon arrival at the hospital I hand over the milk. Its time for his cares which means nappy change and temperature. So I do the temp and alls fine. I then come to the nappy.........eeeeewwww its not pretty. The nurse holds some of the cables out of the way while I tidy him up.

I then see one of his doctors and they say that they are going to change his feeds to 2 hourly (apparantly quite a big step). Also he is being allowed off his CPAP (nose prongs feeding him air...shouldn't that be NPFHA? :) ) for 8 hours at a time (8 on then 8 off). When we go in later we will be allowed to give him his first bath (You see he's got to be a pom over a month for a bath :) )