A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Can you help me with some research????

Hey everyone. I'm the chat leader for an online preemies support group. The mothers on the board are working on some ways to educate people on prematurity and things like what to expect in the NICU if you end up having a child in there. Because we all have experience with the NICU and preemies, we really have no clue what people who have never been around the NICU and preemies think about certain things. So, I need your help! If you do not have experience with a NICU or close experience with preemies, please answer the following questions and help us educate women! Those of you who DO have experience in this area, please message me privately so that I can ask you different questions without tainting the results of these questions...thanks!

So, here are our questions: (and answer what you THINK...don't do a google to find out the "correct" answer...that doesn't help us!) No peaking at other people's answers until you answer the questions...be honest!

1~ What is a preemie?
2~ Why do you think preemies are born?
3~ What do you think the NICU is like? Be as detailed about your thoughts as you can be.
4~ What do you think is done to the baby in the NICU?
5~ What kind of things do you think the baby goes through health wise in the NICU?
6~ What do you think it is like when the preemie goes home?
7~ Is going home the end of the preemie "journey"? ....if not, what else happens?
8~ Do you think preemies have any lifelong health concerns?

Now everyone....there is no need to be afraid of the questions! If you don't want to answer them opening, then you can always private message me with your answers!

Maybe I should give some background....the mothers in the support group want to make an educational video and a brochure or two. We are realizing that mothers are not being prepared for what they will find in the NICU after their baby is born and they aren't being told about the risks of prematurity. But because they all have already gone through the "NICU experience", they do not know what most people already have in their minds about the NICU and premature babies. So, we are all branching out to all of our friends and asking them questions so we can figure out what information needs to be put into their project.

1~ What is a preemie? I think it is any baby born underdeveloped For any reason
2~ Why do you think preemies are born?I am not sure. I think it is because of a mother's inability to carry to term sometime and other times due to a baby's inability to develop in utero.
3~ What do you think the NICU is like? Be as detailed about your thoughts as you can be.I believe a NICU is as calming a place as possible for further development. It would/should be temperature controlled enviro for each child and monitored. Probably oxygen and IV feedings, fluids and meds. And phototherapy for jauntice
4~ What do you think is done to the baby in the NICU? Normal newborn care as well as the above
5~ What kind of things do you think the baby goes through health wise in the NICU?Like above, any and all to help attain 'normal' health as much as possible
6~ What do you think it is like when the preemie goes home? I am not sure. I believe there may be monitors sent home to help the parents. I would like to see home health care follow up
7~ Is going home the end of the preemie "journey"? ....if not, what else happens?
8~ Do you think preemies have any lifelong health concerns? I know they often do from reading
Jenn, My son wasn't a preemie but was born with down syndrome. Had I not known beforehand that he was going to be DS, I would have been at a loss as to where to go for info. As it was I knew the local school that dealt with these kids and their issues and began there for info before he was born. Had I been kicked out of the hospital after one day with the info given to me there, I would have been at such a loss as to how to deal. So do your good deeds now to help other people down the line. And thank you.

jenn--I was a preemie.--my mom was between 6 to 6-1/2 months along when she had me. Until my later years of grade school I caught just about every illness that came along, my resistance level was very low--I think my being a preemie had a lot do with this.
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1~ What is a preemie? a child born before it is full term.
2~ Why do you think preemies are born? because something goes wrong with the mother's pregnacy, or poor nutrition/ poor health of the mother.
3~ What do you think the NICU is like?Be as detailed about your thoughts as you can be. it is very clean and has all the equiptment in it needed to care for a child in need of help to live.-- tiny clothing, diapers, baby items, incubators, oxygen, tubes, medicine, etc--& hopefully VERY qualified nurses to staff said NICU.
4~ What do you think is done to the baby in the NICU? cared for and monitored constantly--this may include tests, shots, around the clock feeding, etc.--hopefuly it includes some touching & one on one time with mom & dad and if not, then personal time with the nurses.
5~ What kind of things do you think the baby goes through health wise in the NICU?--all the things involved with the above instances---it is so little that I am sure peole think it cannot "know" about all that is happening, I think it is possible it knows it is having pain, etc.--and I am sure that being held comforts the child very much much.
6~ What do you think it is like when the preemie goes home? Probably very scarry for everyone concerned.---esp with insurances forcing patients out before it is really time---I like to think this does not happen to preemies but I am betting it does--and then if the parents do not have a good insurance or any insurance, it puts a financial hardship on the entire family.
7~ Is going home the end of the preemie "journey"? ....if not, what else happens?--No it is not--it is a long hard road. as said child often has many 'issues' that need to be resolved--often monitors that need to be worn, etc. regular childhood diseases that can adversly affect the child, that would not be as 'hard' on a full term baby.--
8~ Do you think preemies have any lifelong health concerns? yes I do wether it be low immunity levels or underdevelped organs & body parts.

Dare I tell you the average cost of a preemie's NICU stay???

The cost of the octuplets born recently near here has been touted loud and long and clear by our news on a daily, ongoing basis. It is horrendously expensive.
I was a preemie by about a month. I know exactly what I cost because my mother kept very accurate records.

The average "base" cost of NICU (this is for the bed space and the nurse only...does not include cost of machines, medicines, or procedures like basic blood testing) is $1500/day. Maddie was in the hospital for 56 days...you do the math as to what the minimum cost for Maddie's stay alone was.

I will say that most if not all states have what they will call a loop hole built right into their Medicaid program. Babies under a certain weight and/or gestational age at birth automatically fall into the loop hole and the state's insurance picks up the cost. I do not know if CA has this loop hole, but if it does, there is a very large chance that all 8 of those babies are covered and the mother won't have to deal with that bill.

Tina, take what your mother paid for you and multiple it......by alot. Insurance companies have pushed the prices up for things it is ridiculous. My mom said that when I was little, a doctor visit cost $18. It now costs like $75 or more just for a visit to your family physician. No doubt in my mind that NICU's now run tons more tests than they used to also.

Yes, I know those babies are being paid for by the state. The mother already had Medi-Cal for them and the other six before birth.
Back in the olden days when I was born, a mother and baby stayed in the hospital for 5-10 days, always. I went home with Mom a little under 5 pounds. But I made up for it and was a full head taller than the rest of my kindergarten class. I was just thankful I stopped growing upwards at 12 years old at 5' 7 1/2". The total cost for my care was under $200 I think. I'd need to go digging into dusty papers to see for sure. And I'm not so willing right now.

In 1952, it cost my dad $500.00 for my birth and my 6 week stay in the hospital in an incubator.--The dr wanted to transfer me to springfield, IL (about 90 minutes away)to a preemie unit there, but my dad would not let him, because they wanted to be closer than that to me.--Mom could not of made the drive to that hosp by herself every day & dad was in the military.--and no Mom would not take me to Scott Field AF Base either because again she wanted to be close to me--so pay for it they did.

Ummm.....yeah...Maddie's first HOUR cost more than $500.

Back then that was enough to buy half a decent house. It was big bucks. They must have liked you a little.

1~ What is a preemie?
A child born more than 2 weeks before their "due" date. Can also be a child weighing less than 5 lbs at birth, reguardless of when due.

2~ Why do you think preemies are born?
Goodness! It can be any number of reasons! Enviornmental issues, genetics, mother not getting the proper care during pregnancy, mother taking drugs (both perscription and non-perscription), mother's body just not "working" right to keep the baby in, birth defects in the baby, accident/injury/illness of mother...like I said, it's a long list.

3~ What do you think the NICU is like? Be as detailed about your thoughts as you can be.
I don't think it's a picnic, that's for sure! I believe that it's much the same as an ICU, except for the size of the patients. It seems that the patients would be much more delicate due to their size. I imagine that it would be very difficult on the parents, because they are all sitting in the same room, rather than private rooms, so whatever happens with one baby would give them the thoughts that "That could be my child" type of thing. I also think that it would be easier to recieve emotional support from the staff and other parents. Something about spending months together in the same room with various people would HAVE to form some kind of bond.

4~ What do you think is done to the baby in the NICU?
Various medical tests and monitoring as their condition allows/demands, obviously. Those that can be held, are. I imagine that the parents and nurses try to make the experience as most like "normal" as they can. I'm sure there is a lot of teaching going on as well. The parents have to know what to expect once they get baby home, how to care for various conditions, etc.

5~ What kind of things do you think the baby goes through health wise in the NICU?
Well, the baby has to learn how to eat normally, breath without a respirator (if they were on one). They are in isolettes, so I assume they are immuno-compormised. They would be more subject to germs/colds/infections.

6~ What do you think it is like when the preemie goes home?
I'm sure the parents are terrified and elated at the same time. If all health concerns have been overcome, then I'm sure it's fairly normal. If the baby still has issues that have to be dealt with, then I imagine the parents are very antsy about how things are going to be. I figure the parents of preemies need outside support more than any other new parents.

7~ Is going home the end of the preemie "journey"? ....if not, what else happens?
I don't think so. Many times there are lingering health issues that have to be dealt with on a daily basis. For many, it can be a lifetime issue.

8~ Do you think preemies have any lifelong health concerns?
I believe some do. It just depends on what condition they were in at birth, how early they were, etc. For some it may just be that they are asthmatic for the rest of their lives, others may have much graver cinditions. I do not believe, however, that a preemie is anymore likely to contract cancer, or COPD, or heart disease than a non preemie. (I have my own beliefs on that subject that have nothing to do with this thread! LOL)

I hope some of my answers can help you. According to the criteria of "more than 2 weeks early", the doctor's say my girls were all preemie. The oldest was NOT according to my calculations, but all were less than 6 lbs at birth. None were placed in NICU, and none have any health issues or developmental issues. So other than the fact that they were very small for a little while and needed preemie clothes/diapers for a few weeks, I never concidered them preemies.

Annette

Annette,
I've not responded to the posts in this thread about answers....but I am surprised that you were told you had preemies because of size. The true definition of a preemie is a baby born before 37 weeks gestation.....it has nothing to do with size. My daughter was a preemie (in loose terms, she was considered a micro preemie because she was under 3 lbs.), but my son was born full term, but was small enough to need to wear preemie sized clothes.

Just thought I'd mention it. ...you did right by not considering them to be preemies.

Yep Tina they must have liked me a "little".=---that WAS a lot of money---

because----when I was 6 we bought a whole house on 1/2 acre that had a barn and a few out buildings for $4,000.00. so yep--$500.00 was a lot.

Times sure have changed................

i couldn't agree more. my first house cost 12,000 on a lot slightly larger than 1/2 acre. now? not even a down payment

My oldest (Bunny) was born 3 days early by my calculations...by the doctor's, she was 3 weeks early. She weighed 5 lbs 14 1/2 oz. The doc concidered her "preemie" because of his mistaken due date, and not because of her size. Bunny had the most medical issues of all 3 girls. She constantly got ear infections and tonsilitis. She finally had the tonsils and adnoids out last year on Valentine's Day.

My middle one (Teeny) was born 3 weeks early, so by that deffinition she WAS preemie. She weighed 5 lbs 4 oz at birth and dropped to just below 5 lbs before we were scheduled to leave the hospital (normal newborn weight loss). They didn't want to let her go home unless she went back up over 5 lbs, but I signed her out AMA. So she wasn't technically a preemie by the size standard they quoted, just from due date versus delivery date. She had some asthma issues when she was smaller, but has outgrown them in the last year or so. There was a while there that we had to do the breathing treatments everyday to help control it, but because there is a history of it in the family (I have chronic bronchitis) I didn't feel that it was related to her size at birth or her early delivery.

My youngest (Allie) was 4 weeks early. So again, by the due vs. delivery dates, she was a preemie. She was also my heaviest baby...at 5 lbs 14 3/4 oz. She is the one that has had the LEAST medical issues. She has a few enviornmental allergies, but nothing severe. She DID contract the Roto virus when she was 3 weeks old and and to spend a few days in the hospital, but there has been nothing since, ecept the regular colds and such that ALL kids get.

So...of all my kids, the one that was born full term has had the most medical problems. She is now almost 16, stands 6 feet tall, and weighs more than I do! My smallest birth weight child is the tallest in her class, and started the gifted program this year. My earliest baby was also my heaviest, and she has followed the "normal" growth patterns for children her age. She will be starting the gifted program next year as well.

Those are the reasons that I have failed to think of them as "preemies". Yes, they were all very small when they were born, but it didn't last! LOL Two of them were born before their due dates, but who's to say that the doc wasn't wrong on those as my first one was? Since I tend to have small babies anyway, an ultrasound wouldn't give them an accurate idea anyway.

Sorry this has gotten so long! LOL I just wanted to explain a little more. Some of my answers were taken from things that I had been told by doctors when I had my girls. I hope this helps. It might be good to know that even some doctors are still out of the loop, so to speak!

Annette