Premmie Babies Born at 28 Weeks Gestation

Premmie Babies Name: Tahlia, Aleah & James
Gestation Born: 28+3 weeks
Weight When Born: T – 1056grams, A – 1124 grams, J – 1404 grams
Length When Born: T – 25cm, A- 27cm & J – 30cm
Current Age: 15 weeks actual/3 weeks corrected
Current Weight Now: T – 3.5kg, A – 4kg & J – 4.5kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: James has reflux due to an underdeveloped gut. Both Girls have stage 2 ROP that is slowly rectifying its self. Other than that, they dont have any on going problems.
Advice From Parents: No question is a silly question. Be your childs voice, if you dont think your being listened too. Push the point till you get the answer you want. The best support you will find is in another prem parent.

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Premmie Babies Name: Zac
Gestation Born: 28 weeks (to the day) Weight When Born: 1250 grams
Length When Born: 37.5cm
Current Age: 44 months
Current Weight Now: 14.5kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Zac has no ongoing health issues as such. He has a habit of toe-walking. It was recently diagnosed as being Idiopathic (no physical cause), and the suggestion is that when he started to walk he didn’t like the neurological feedback/ sensation of his flat foot touching the ground. We are currently trying to break his habit through physio and exercises in the form of games. The specialists tell us he will one day grow out of it as he will become too heavy to walk on his toes.

Advice From Parents: Do as much skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo care) as you can – both mum and dad! Apart from bonding, research shows that this aids your baby in SO many physical ways. And it’s great for parents too. When your premmie is in an isolette it can be so daunting to touch them. Skin-to-skin is a fabulous way of removing all physical, psychological and emotional barriers. If you have to push the staff of your hospital to have this contact: DO SO. Get them to look up the benefits and findings of the numerous studies on the internet for themselves.

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Premmie Babies Name: Lachlan
Gestation Born: 28 weeks
Weight When Born: 980 grams Length When Born: 36cms
Current Age: 4yrs Current Weight Now: 17.5kgs
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Central Sleep Apnoea as well as Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. He has global developmental delay , speech delay and slight hearing loss in both ears. He suffers from asthma and chronic tonsilitis. He had hernia repair at 11 weeks old. He has had his adenoids out and has had grommets inserted. Lachlan has just recently done a lung function test and his lung function isn’t a that good so he is having tests done for this. He has shown some seizure activity which we had a EEG for this week and also has a benign cyst on his brain.

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Premmie Babies Name: Eric and Jade
Gestation Born: 28.1 weeks
Weight When Born: Eric 1190g Jade 1157g
Length When Born: Eric 34cm Jade 39cm
Current Age: 3yrs 10 months
Current Weight Now: Eric 15.3kg Jade 16.6kg Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Eric is considered on the “norm” He has some issues with articulation in his speech but other than that he is ploddding along just fine. Jade is in an early intervention program she is developmently behind in some areas but is improving slowly.Her speech is the biggest issue recently assessed as 2yrs 6 months where her actual age is 3yr 10 months

Advice From Parents: Don’t be afraid to talk to someone even a stranger. Someone out there completely understands. No question is a silly question.

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Premmie Babies Name: James Michalis O’Keefe
Gestation Born: 28 weeks
Weight When Born: 1.27 kg
Length When Born: 36cm Current Age: 3 yrs 9 months
Current Weight Now: 15kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: We’ve been lucky to get through his prematurity with very few issues. He’s happy, healthy and totally into everything!

Advice From Parents: One thing that got me through this extremely difficult time was “Don’t worry unless there’s something to worry about”.
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Premmie Babies Name: Zoe cousins
Gestation Born: 28+6 weeks
Weight When Born: 1235 grams
Length When Born:
Current Age: 13weeks
Current Weight Now: 3.3kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Born in Melbourne due to premature rupture of membranes at 28 weeks, returned to bendigo hospital 4 weeks later. Top up blood transfusion at 69day old

Advice From Parents: Don’t let things get you down there is always someone to talk to that has been or is going thru a similar situation as you.
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Premmie Babies Name: Indiana Faith
Gestation Born: 28+1 weeks
Weight When Born: 1045 grams
Length When Born: 36cm
Current Age: 9 months
Current Weight Now: 6020g
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Indiana spent 9 weeks in hospital with a few issues but has no on going problems. She did have some problems with gaining weight but we seem to have got past that. She has had one hospital admission this winter for bronciolitis.

Advice From Parents: Take lots of photos!! Take comparison photo’s with a teddy or something to remind yourself how little they where and how far they have come. Remember to take care of you too…bub needs you to be healthy.
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Premmie Babies Name: Lilia Fae
Gestation Born: 28weeks 1 day
Weight When Born: 970 grams
Length When Born: 35cm
Current Age: 22 months actual
Current Weight Now: 12.2kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: May need glasses to correct her eyesight.
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Premmie Babies Name: Charli
Gestation Born: 28+3 weeks
Weight When Born: 795 Grams
Length When Born: 33 cms
Current Age: 9.5 Months
Current Weight Now: 9.650 kgs
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Everything going great – only needs glasses for long sighted. No other issues, alot of weight gain tho!!!

Advice From Parents: Take each day as it comes and I recommend heaps of pics and Video cause there is never enough. I also wished I did a daily Diary of the struggles and Joy each day, weight gain, food, ect.
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Premmie Babies Name: Jacob
Gestation Born: 28 weeks
Weight When Born: 1025gm
Length When Born: 33cm
Current Age: 16
Current Weight Now: 80kg haha he’s 6ft tall
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Jacob has thrived from when he arrived home at 8 weeks. He was late walking/talking but otherwise has had a healthy life so far and plays sport at a State Level.

Advice From Parents: Accept each day as it comes, always look ahead with positivity and let them be themselves, even if it’s scary sometimes to see them attempting tough stuff!
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Premmie Babies Name: Madeline
Gestation Born: 28 weeks
Weight When Born: 940 grams
Length When Born: 34 cm
Current Age: 15 months, 1 year corrected
Current Weight Now: 9.4 kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Maddie is doing so well. Apart from a bit of eczema and ongoing monitoring of her head size (it’ quite large and she had bleeds at birth). She’s doing so well. She was an early walker and is now running and is talking up a storm. We would never have imagined we would be where we are a year and a bit ago when she was born. She’s just doing so well!

Advice From Parents: One day at a time! Remember not to get overwhelmed and to pace yourself. It’s a long journey for everyone and your little one will need you. Get involved however you can even if it’s just by talking to them in the early days. We read and talked to Maddie whenever we could I an truly believe it helped her get to know us. She had her first ‘kangaroo care’ at 8 days old.My husband was great because he brought humor to a tough situation. I found this helped me and Maddie as laughter would sometimes just make a tough situation more manageable.

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Premmie Babies Name: Isla May
Gestation Born: 28 weeks
Weight When Born: 750 grams
Length When Born: 33cms
Current Age: 20 weeks
Current Weight Now: 3.9kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Isla has been very lucky. She was able to come off ventilation a few hours after she was born and had no problems during her 70 day stay in hospital. On discharge her doctor discovered an inguinal hernia which she has had repaired and she has suffered from reflux and oral aversion at home so still receives top ups through the nasogastric tube. Hopefully she will be fully breastfed soon and we will be able to take the tube out. So far no ongoing issues have been detected – eye and hearing exams are normal – and hopefully it remains this way!

Advice From Parents: Look after yourself first, then you will be able to properly care for your baby.

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Premmie Babies Name: Jade Savannah
Gestation Born: 28+1
Weight When Born: 725g
Length When Born: 32cm
Current Age: 8.5 months actual (5.5 corrected)
Current Weight Now: 6kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Jade was very small for gestation. She had IGUR due to my pre eclampsia and HELLP syndrome going undiagnosed. She was very lucky in the NICU I think she had her fight to stay alive while she was still in my tummy! She was on CPAP for 1.5 weeks. She had 3 blood transfusions and came home at 37+2 weighing 1820g.
She has thrived since coming home. She has glue ear which the docs are monitoring and she is presently slightly behind with her milestones but she will get there in her own time!
Advice From Parents: Don’t feel bad if you can’t be at the hospital ALL the time. You need time for you. It is completely exhausting travelling to and from the hospital every day. Take a long bath or get a takeaway. You need to be strong and healthy to take care of your baby when they come home

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Premmie Babies Name: Emily Merryn
Gestation Born: 28 weeks 6 days
Weight When Born: 1.1 kg
Length When Born: 28 cms
Current Age: 21 months ( 18 corrected)
Current Weight Now: 10kgs
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Our beautiful miracle was concieved after a long battle and we had an even longer battle to make it to 28 weeks. She was born at 28 weeks due to PROM and Chorioamnionitis. She amazed all the doctors by breathing on her own when she was born and then only needed CPAP for 9 days. She has only had a small amount of reflux to deal with and other than a slight speech delay she is thriving.
Advice From Parents: Look after yourself and your partner. Never take No for an answer. If you think something is not right speak up. We did and it was the best thing we ever did. It’s not easy but it is so rewarding with every little milestone they make forwards.
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Premature Babies Name: Sophie
Gestation Born: 28 weeks
Weight When Born: 840 grams
Length When Born: 32cms
Current Age: 19wks
Current Weight Now: 3.6kilos
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Sophie was born small for her age but had a reasonably smooth ride whilst in hospital. she was ventilated for a day then on and off CPAP for about 8 weeks. She took a long time to learn to suck and i got mastitis and a staf infection which stopped me brest feeding for a few weeks then she never got back on. She had 2 blood transfusions whilst in hospital which scared me at first but she picked up so well after them. At this stage she has no ongoing issues besides being very windy and suffering a little bit of reflux.

Advice From Parents: Keep the first photo ever taken with you so when you or your baby is having a bad day you can look at it and see how far you have come already. although it feels like it, you won’t be in the hospital forever.

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