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I had my baby at 34 weeks. I woke up one morning and my water just broke, no signs of labor before this happened. I went to the bathroom to wipe and their was blood, bloody show. I freaked out and had my husband trow together a hospital bag (we were not ready). We went to the hospital and on the way called our doctor. She thought I was wrong about my water breaking so said I could just wait till 9 am and go into the office (it was 7 am at the time). We were almost to hospital so we went to the hospital anyway. I got to the hospital and they put me in a triage room. I was hooked up to the monitors and told I was having contractions, I had no idea. The doctor came in to see if my water had broken, he thought I was wrong. He did the test with the strip of paper and it came back negative, my water hasn't broken. He said just in case we would do an ultrasound. He did the ultrasound and there was barely any fluid around the baby so he admited me to the hospital and told me I couldn't leave until I delivered. He said they would delay me going into labor but if I went into labor they wouldn't stop me. They Gabe me a shot to stop my contractions and moved me to L&D. Once in L&D I got my first steroid shot. My contractions had lightened up so I was allowed to eat lunch. After lunch and the rest of the day my contractions kept coming back, I had 3 more shots. I had to stay in L&D because I was having too many contractions and they wouldn't move me to the perinatal floor. At about 3 am I had my 2nd steroid shot. At 4 am the contractions were so bad I called the nurse and asked for another shot to stop contractions. The nurse had to call my dr and he asked to see how far dilated I was, I was a 9. After that it was a huge rush to get the epidural and deliver the baby. The NICU team was put on notice and were in the delivery room. The doctor came and 15 minutes after he arrived my LO mad his arrival. He cried when he came out, he was rushed to the NICU team who checked him. He was brought over to me for a second and I was allowed to kiss my baby before they took him to the NICU to be hooked up to monitors. The whole time I'm freaking out. They had DH go to the NICU so he could sign papers and I was left in the room to deliver the placenta and get my stitches. About half an hour later DH returned and he was overwhelmed by everything that happened. We called our parents to let them know about Brennan's arrival. I was moved to my room and told I could go see Brennan once I could show the nurse I could walk across the room myself. Let me tell you I walked across that room as soon as I was allowed. DH then wheeled me down to see Brennan in the NICU. He was on the CPAP. It is the scariest thing seeing your LO hooked up to so many monitors. He ended up being on the CPAP about 7 hours. He stayed in the NICU for 10 days. I can't tell you how hard it is to leave the hospital without your baby. I felt like a failure as a mom and cried everyday. The day he was released from the nICU was the happiest day of my life! He's now 4
Months old and thriving. He is a little smaller than full term babies but he is hitting every single milestone. The doctors said to be patient with milestones and that preemies tend to catch up 100% by the time they are 2 I believe. He has no health issues from being born early and we love him a ton!!! Please let me know if you have any specific questions about the nICU it can be very overwhelming to go in there. Please let me know if you want to know anything else.. Sorry I wrote so much...

My lo came right on time on her due date, but I have a niece or nephew (they're team green) coming soon that will be a little early so I want to follow this thread. I'm crazy worried about it of course and praying every day that the baby will be safe and healthy.

My sil was pregnant with triplets but lost two of the babies pretty late in pregnancy so they have to stay in her belly until she delivers her surviving baby. There's not a lot of room in there so they want her to deliver at 37 weeks if she doesn't go into labor before then. Luckily even though the baby is small, its breathing is right on track.

@Rosie Girl: Thank you so much, it helps to get all the positive thoughts we can They are seeing hospice weekly to help with their grieving, I also couldn't imagine having to go through that.

Also, my sister gave birth prematurely to her first born (at 34 weeks) out of the blue. She was largish (5 lbs or so) and was in the NICU for 2 weeks because of apnea. She was discharged home on an apnea alarm which she wore for 3 months. She hit some of her milestones a little bit later as a baby (smiling, crawling, grabbing for toys) but was on track at about a year. She is an adorable, precocious, SMART, and loving 4 year old healthy girl.

@artbee: Oh my gosh I can't imagine what your SIL is going through, my heart goes out to her.

@krsmall: Thank you! Your LO is sooooo adorable! What a sweet face

Like @mediagirl: pumping becomes a huge priority. The minute after Brennan was born a lactation consultant came in and taught me how to use the pump. Whatever I could pump I would bring to the NICU in bottles that were specially given to us. During the 10 days Brennan was in NICU I spent my entire time at the hospital so I could feed him, change him, take his temp, read to him, etc. Changing a diaper while your LO is hooked up to monitors is challenging! Changing a diaper afterwards is cake! There is a great community at the NICU and you are surronded by caring amazing people. We loved our NICU nurses.

i didnt have a baby in NICU but just wanted to offer two stories that offer a lot of hope.
i was born at 27 weeks (1 pd, 12 ounces) and i spent 3 months in nicu (back in 87, so medical tech. has certainly improved) i have no health problems today or anything....
my cousin (seems very similar to your situation) was having bleeding and was admitted into the hhopsital at 25 weeks, she stayed htere until she develivered her little boy at 37 weeks....

I had my son at 36 weeks because I developed HELLP syndrome. I had a few scares though earlier on because my cervix was shortening, so I had to go on bed rest with steroid injections at 30 weeks. I'm so glad he made it to 36 weeks, because he was 5lbs 13oz with literally no problems.
Mag is a pain- makes you feel terrible and you cant get up and walk on your own if you're on it. Because I had hellp syndrome, I was on mag for three days- it was annoying not to be able to stand up and go to the bathroom without having to wheel around my IV- BUT, I got a 24 hr nurse and I took total advantage of it asking a million questions. It actually helped me a lot with breastfeeding and feeling more confident when I left the hospital, so I guess that was actually a blessing in disguise!

@artbee: oh my gosh I had never even considered that as a possibility. I cannot imagine what she must feel like. My heart goes out to her.

@krsmall: I knew you'd had Brennan early, but never heard your story - sooo so sweet!! What a precious boy... I'm soo glad he is healthy and everything turned out perfect!

@Mrs Green Grass: just sending you some hugs and support!!! I cannot imagine being in your position.

Have you read Half Baked by Alexa Stevenson? You can read a bunch of her experience on her blog, Flotsam, too (http://flotsamblog.com/). But I think her little girl Simone was born at 27 weeks? It is a really outstanding read- she explains so much about the NICU just in the course of her story. I devoured it when my son was in the NICU.

My small sir was born at 34 wks, 4 days per my obgyn's calc, I would say it was closer to 34 wks even based on my charting. He stayed in the NICU for 10 days, my story is much like @krsmall in that my water broke and we headed to the hospital. He was 5 lbs 12 oz and had no problems with breathing, etc, but my hospital had a rule that any baby under 35 weeks went straight to the NICU. Because he had no problems the nurses kept saying that he could prob go home with me, and then the doctors said no way on their rounds on Day2. I was crushed. Later someone explained to me that you should expect that the baby will stay in the NICU until you would have been at least 37 weeks gestation, maybe until your actual due date. Wish someone had explained that to me at the beginning!

I had twins at 27 weeks. One had severe IUGR and was born at only 12 ounces. Yes, 3/4 of a pound. The other was born at 2lb 1oz. The bigger baby spent 101 days in the NICU. He's perfectly healthy now. Unfortunately our smaller baby died at 5 months old; he developed a heart condition that's incredibly rare, with no treatment.