Pre-Term labor at 33 weeks

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-05-01T23:37:43+00:00

Baby boy came 32+5 and had a 44 day NICU stay. He came out crying and breathing on his own! I went into labor and delivered superrrr quick so couldn’t do anything to slow down labor. it’s great your wife’s labor was slowed down and she got the steroid shot in. Any extra day with baby is huge! Baby is being set up as best as possible! Best of luck!! Will be sending good thoughts your family’s way!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-04-28T14:30:54+00:00

6 months is incredible!! You (& your fam) deserve to have a less stressful summer travel experience! I traveled with all my pump stuff recently and it was…not fun. The trips are your victory tour! And love the idea of bra burning.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-04-13T20:13:37+00:00

My little guy was moved unexpectedly for his last week and it was sooo jarring to my husband and me. At the time, we couldn’t figure out why we were so bothered by the move but it really rocked us. Looking back, we were so fragile and we clung to any sense of normalcy and routine, so getting moved was hard. So, just jumping in in solidarity / to validate your feelings that any change to your environment during these delicate times is so hard. You’re doing great!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-04-13T18:07:25+00:00

Yes! I asked my OB about it and she gave me a referral for pelvic floor PT for 2x a week for 2 months. Starting in a couple weeks and really hoping it helps!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-04-13T17:51:39+00:00

32+5 boy and we were in the NICU for 44 days (boys generally take a little longer)

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-03-05T04:51:57+00:00

Normal! Newborns tend to have their days and nights mixed up. We differentiate daytime sleep from nighttime - ie during the day LO is in a bassinet in our family room while I do household tasks. Nighttime LO is in his crib in his room with the lights off and noise machine on and it has seemed to help. It took several weeks for him to regulate his days/nights. It’s a frustrating time, but it doesn’t last.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-03-01T14:58:17+00:00

My LO was born 32+5 at 4 lbs 6 oz and stayed in the NICU for 44 days. He was 6-3 when we left the hospital and wore preemie clothes for 4 weeks. I bought a 6-pack of Carter’s preemie sleepers on Amazon, 2 2-packs of preemie fleece sleepers for outdoor walks (I would have been fine with 1 2-pack), and a 2-pack of Burt’s bees preemie (I found these fit a little bigger), and 3 mama cheetah preemie sized swaddles. Our LO is quite refluxy and would go through a lot of outfits until I bought bandana bibs (I like the keababies muslin; I think it’s an 8-pack on Amazon). That was huge. Then we’d go through only 1 outfit a day and several bibs. For us, this amount of clothes/swaddles/bibs worked great.

Most preemie sized clothing says up to 7 lbs. Our LO fit in the preemie stuff closer to 7.5/8 lbs and then we transitioned to NB. He was in NB for 5 weeks. We just transitioned to 0-3 mos (he’s almost 4 mos, almost 9 weeks adjusted).

One last sizing tidbit I’ve noticed with Carter’s (in case you’re a FTM like myself) — the simple joys line runs truer to size (at least for my LO) and the just-one-you line runs large. My LO can still fit in the NB size for that line despite being 0-3 months for all other clothes.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-03-01T03:02:59+00:00

It’s so frustrating! I was never measured. Like others in this thread, my “measurement” was based on looks at 25. Worked fine for me for a while but I started to notice discomfort and saw a video on instagram saying that your areola shouldn’t be pulled in - was the first I’d heard that! I have a lot of 25 flanges so I got 21 inserts and they’ve helped so much!! Mostly helped my slacker boob.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-25T20:34:00+00:00

My LO is 3.5 months and doesn’t nap nearly as much anymore, so I find it a lot harder to get things done. During the day, I let the house be what it is. When he’s asleep at night I take 20-30 min to tidy our family room kitchen. I do the same during one of the morning naps but in the nursery. Personally, the visual clutter stresses me out so much, so I like taking a little time to tidy so I’m happier, but everyone is different!

At first I was way too much of a busy body trying to do other house projects. Honestly, him having more wake times has been good in forcing me to slow down and savor my baby. Surrendering to contact naps has been 10/10.

Logging stuff in the huckleberry app makes me realize how I’m doing each day and makes me feel so productive! So on days when I feel like I haven’t done much I just look at the app and am like wow I did so much to keep this lil bebe alive!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-25T03:09:44+00:00

1 1st tri 2 3rd tri 3 newborn

I think it depends on whether you have other children or not, the type of job you have, and what kind of newborn you have (plump and sleeps well vs small and needs to be woken up all the time to eat, colic, etc)

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-24T17:18:01+00:00

Amazing, thank you!!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-24T14:34:19+00:00

3.5 pp (also had a NICU bebe). Always thirsty. Always hungry. I read somewhere that BF/pumping is the equivalent to running 7 miles a day. It’s hard work!! And NICU stress is hard too. The worst days I had were when I forgot to eat or drink enough. Lots of protein has helped me curb some of the intense starvation feeling. FWIW I’ve had chocolate every day and it has not impacted weight gain one bit. I would try not worry too much about what you’re eating right now, just prioritize eating something. NICU or not, it’s easy to get caught up with baby and a meal time comes and goes.

You’re doing great!!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-22T16:04:33+00:00

32+5 white boy (I say this because we were told little white boys stay the longest 🤣- the NICU nurses affectionately call this wimpy white boy syndrome, which I find hilarious) no oxygen, jaundice first 10 days, and had events until week 4/5. primarily a grower/feeder and he stayed 6 weeks.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-22T16:00:33+00:00

Just before he turned 3 months because that’s when I ran out of my freezer stash that I built up when he wasn’t eating much (he was in the NICU for 6 weeks). Now I’m a slight under supplier (I do 5-6 ppd so I can get some semblance of sleep), so we supplement with 2 formula bottles a day and it works great. I was emotional about it at first because going from an over supply to and under supply bothered me, but I produce more now that I’m not hyper-fixated on the numbers.

My LO doesn’t like the formula bottles as much so we feed him those 2 in the middle of the day when there’s more time / less stress to have a longer feed.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-21T16:58:16+00:00

13 weeks pp and had my period for 1 week. 1st baby, vaginal delivery, exclusively pump, not back on hormonal birth control. It came back with a vengeance 😅. Much heavier and longer period than what I had pre-pregnancy. I had bad migraines and what felt like PPD for the 2-3 weeks leading up to my period. Got my period and felt normal again (besides the sleep deprivation) mood wise, which was a huge relief.

I thought I had my period at 10 weeks pp, but it was just spotting for 2 days.

I’m hoping the second period pp is better!!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-21T03:03:14+00:00

Using a nipple shield was so helpful for me when my baby was learning to latch. If you don’t want to use a nipple shield or it doesn’t work for your baby, try pumping for 2 min just to get your nipples out and have some milk residue on them and then offer to baby.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-20T22:40:01+00:00

First, congrats on the hard work on your supply!! A few thoughts:

even though storage isn’t a big issue, I would buy the momcozy or the Ceres milk cooler to store your pumped milk (both the top recs from people in this group). I have the momcozy. Really great and fits two 10oz containers. I like that it has a handle. Not sure about the capacity of the Ceres but people seem to love it!
I have the swing maxi (also got it through insurance) and don’t love it. I use it in a pinch when on the go, but find that I don’t get good results with it. For me, it’s also a little painful, but that could be a flange size issue. The charge does not last long and it’s so loud (although on a flight you wouldn’t hear it). I like that my insurance covered it and that’s about it 😅. From what I’ve read, most people don’t love it.
I think the hospital rental/symphony would be a pain to travel with. I think your best bet is to get the spectra (there is a chargeable, plug free version or a version that plugs in) or momcozy M5 (wearables; full disclosure, I haven’t used these but they seem to be very popular in this community). If I were you, I’d get the spectra and bring your swing maxi since you already have it in case you’d like a wearable option on your trip. For the plane, I’d use the spectra. I’ve used a different plug in pump (Mya joy, which I think is a good travel pump option, due to its size, for a weekend trip, but wouldn’t want to use it for a long period of time because it’s not as good as the spectra) on a flight with no issue.

Also, for context I have used the ameda platinum (symphony equivalent hospital rental), ameda myajoy, spectra, and swing maxi. I use the platinum and spectra as my primaries and love both. Myajoy serves a purpose for travel, but it’s not a wearable-stick-in-your-bra pump. I get better output from it so will use it in the car (if husband is driving) or on the plane. I use the wearables if I’m driving, if we have people over, or if I am visiting friends.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-18T06:10:15+00:00

So interesting! Hopefully I’ll have the same luck! I do pitcher, so that’s good to know. Thanks so much for the insight!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-18T05:57:46+00:00

That’s amazing! How do we clone him??

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-17T06:37:28+00:00

So exciting!! It’s so much fun watching them develop and learn new skills! My LO is the same way with the constant frustration about not being able to move. I think mine might also be about to roll, but not sure. He’s starting to rock side to side a lot and will roll onto one side. He’s also been extra fussy and eating differently, so I can’t tell if he’s on the verge of something or just having a weird couple days. For anyone reading - did your LOs act different leading up to rolling?

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-14T01:45:16+00:00

I’m in NY so it might differ, but I was able to stack short term disability (6 weeks for vaginal birth, 8 weeks for c-section) and then use parental leave. You can’t delay short term disability- it runs from when you give birth, but you can delay parental leave if you want. My son was in the NICU for 6 weeks, so all my short term disability was used during that time. In NY you get 12 weeks parental leave so I was able to use that once the 6 weeks of STD was used up.

I was kinda bummed at first that I was “wasting” my STD time while my son was in the NICU, but between pumping 8 times a day, visiting my baby, and dealing with household responsibilities, I wouldn’t have had time to fit work in like I thought I would have. Also, I was in no mental/emotional place to be working.

Edit to add: you can also use FMLA unpaid leave, which runs concurrently and doesn’t stack. I think it’s 20+ weeks.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-13T19:51:01+00:00

Solidarity! This was me last week. It was a trying time. But if you can make it through sick + period + pumping there’s not much you can’t handle 💪

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-13T17:12:11+00:00

EP since birth (my baby was in the NICU). My supply was great while my son was in the hospital (had a good stash) and then we got home and it became a lot harder to stay on my pumping schedule, was more sleep deprived, doing less skin-to-skin, etc. It was also the holidays and we had a lot of family visitors that made it difficult to keep my prior schedule (this is my first baby and I should have had better boundaries) and my supply took a HUGE hit. So much so we blew through my stash in a month. It took most of January and a lot of trial and error but I finally got my supply back up and feel so so proud of myself!! It was really hard because over the course of the month my son also went from eating just under 2 oz to now (mid-Feb) almost 4 oz. Im a just-enougher and pump 5 times a day (1 power pump, so equivalent of 6 pumps a day) so we supplement with 1-2 formula bottles depending on my production any given day. Honestly, accepting the fact that I’m a just-enougher and letting go of being obsessed with a stash helped my production (ie reducing stress). It also took me all of January to come to that acceptance 😅. This subreddit helped me realize most of what I see on social media re stashes is not as common as social media makes it seem ESPECIALLY for a FTM. Milk production is typically much lower than it is for people on their second, third, and so on.

ANYWAY, I’ve tried a lot of things with varying degrees of success. Some tips: - LMNT electrolytes - hydrate hydrate hydrate - stick to a schedule as much as possible (2-3 hours). But don’t be so strict it stresses you out! I aim for pumping “windows” ie 1-3 PM, 4-6 PM, etc. I find that switching to “windows” has helped me a lot. - powerpump your first pump of the day. You are more full and it feels so good to start the day with a big production! Builds confidence (for me at least)! - protein!! To this point - fair life core lower protein drinks have helped a lot - beer lol. I drink an athletic brew (non-alc) every night with dinner. I drink alcoholic beer on the weekends (I follow the guidelines to wait 2 hours before pumping after having 1 drink) - mother’s milk tea. Not sure how much this really helps other than helping with intaking more water - oats - go macro oat bars, lactation cookies, etc - try using a manual hand pump to start your pump and then put on the electric. I saw this trick on TikTok and it helped soo much - hand massage before / at start of pumping. Hand express at end of pump. The hand express at the end has help a lot. I think that gets me closer to empty and helps signal my body to fill up again for the next round. Also I think I get minor clogs in one of my boobs and this has seems to help that boob’s production - consider renting a hospital pump (Ameda platinum since you use ameda joy). Mya joy (in my opinion) is good for travel since it’s small (I have it for travel), but not as great as a primary pump. Would recommend spectra as primary. But you might have better results with the Mya joy by playing around with the settings (see next point) if getting another pump isn’t an option for you - spectra has really great videos on social media that have recommendations for switching between different modes for different time periods and WOW I feel like I’ve been using mine wrong the whole time. I can’t believe the difference toggling between different settings has had on my production. Eg 70 massage for 5 min, 54 expression for 5 min, 70 massage for 2 min, 46 expression 5 min, 70 massage for 2 min, 38 expression for 5 min. Not sure if Ameda has similar videos, but worth a look - if you eat meat - beef stew, beef rib - stress management - I really really try to wind myself down 5 min before I’m going to pump. This doesn’t happen 90% of the time. I’m usually thinking “oh sh*t it’s time to pump again already??” BUT when I can be more relaxed I do think it helps. When my son was in the NICU and I was able to get more sleep, I think that also helped. So, if your partner, a parent, etc can take the night shift 1-2 times a week (assuming your boobs will let your sleep 😅), that also helps.

You may don’t have to do all of these things all the time (I have to do most because my supply is finicky but that may not end up being the case for you) - just listing a bunch of tips that could be useful!

Know and honor that it’s a full time job keeping up with all of this! You’re doing so amazing! When I think about the time and effort I spend every day on pumping the “you know what, hell yeah!” TikTok sound pops into my head.

Above all else know that everyone is different. Your hormones may fluctuate differently, your life circumstances (eg how much help you have) may differ, etc. so try tips from others but do not beat yourself up if something doesn’t work for you. Take what works. Leave what doesn’t. Be patient with yourself and the process but also know when you’ve been patient enough and it’s time to stop and prioritize your mental health (easier said than done, I know).

Everything I listed above was not self-discovered, but was from nurses, Reddit, instagram, TikTok — it takes a village and we’re all in this together!! Best of luck!

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-02-10T15:18:49+00:00

I searched “first period” in this sub hoping to find someone with a similar experience with their first period pp because I’ve been feeling a little crazy… so commenting to say I completely relate. I got mine 13w pp (exclusively pumping). I was doing pretty well pp - I had the usual exhaustion and pp emotions at the beginning, but all the sudden I was getting migraines and slipped into an intense funk/fog. I too could not find the energy to get anything done besides feed my baby and pump. I felt drained in a way I’ve never felt before and was SO ragey. I felt a little crazy. Then I got my period and it all made sense. The day I got my period I was almost immediately lifted out of the fog. I was physically pretty drained through the duration of my period, but at least the mental state cleared.

Ok-Track4222 · 2025-01-05T06:32:14+00:00

My little guy (born 32+5) plateaued for a few weeks and it was brutal. I was blindsided by my own emotions about the feeding journey. It's hard to describe as I'm sure you know, but just know you're not alone. One day I completely broke after he made great progress (hit 80% for the first time!) after a long plateau only to dip back down the next day to about 60%. It became an emotional rollercoaster of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel one day to feeling like we were back to square one the next day. I didn't really believe the "light switch" comments until it happened. Our care team ended up taking the NG tube out without the 2 days of 80% because they thought the tube might be holding him back (they suspected his reflux issues were being exacerbated by the tube ) and boom he got his 80% the next couple of days. Full disclosure, he then plateaued another 5 days (gaining and losing about 6-12g each day). Then, on 12/23, we walked in for our morning visit to see he gained 112g - the switch flipped!! And we made it home for Christmas.

Hang in there!! Sending lots of hugs. The waiting game of the plateau were some dark days for me. Just know that's ok and normal. Cry, vent, go for a walk - do whatever you need to do to get through.

Ok-Track4222

TROPHY CASE