re: New to preemie world

Agreed! It is very scary, but just make sure you are there as much as you possibly can be and ask the staff to let you be involved. Hold him as much as they will let you. Ask to hold him while they tube feed him, rather than him just lying in bed while he gets it. Ask to help with bath time. Obviously you have to wait until he is medically stable to do these things, but all of a sudden one day you will get the surprise of a great nurse letting you do something new with your baby and it is amazing! The frustrating part is all the nurses are different and will vary in what they are comfortable with you doing during their shift. Just be strong and remember you are his mommy and you have a say and a right to be as involved as possible. Some of the nurses are scary and might make you feel less than that but don't let them! Good luck to you and your boy!

How much did he weigh

Quoting Erin Weyer:" Don't be scared, you won't break him   I wasn't allowed to hold my son for the first 2 weeks of his ... [snip!] ... We stayed at one for almost the entire hospital stay--he was in the NICU for 80 days, came home 21 days before his due date."

Your message very true and touching... When I go to visit him its the greatest time of my life... I love the feeling I get when I am with my son!!!! I havent looked into the ronald mcdonald thing but now that you mention it I wil def find out about it... He fell asleep holding my pinkie and I wanted to cry. He has to be in the NICU for 15 weeks  

Quoting Diamond Tate:" Your message very true and touching... When I go to visit him its the greatest time of my life... I love ... [snip!] ... wil def find out about it... He fell asleep holding my pinkie and I wanted to cry. He has to be in the NICU for 15 weeks  "

They usually say expect them to go home around their due date but if he has minimal complications and grows well there is always chance he may get to come home sooner. My son had no major complications while in the NICU. He had a very small level 1 brain bleed that resolved on its own, stage 1 ROP that resolved on its own. his blood sugars were a little loopy for a while so they had to feed him over a longer period of time when tube feeding to keep his blood sugar levels up and had 3 blood transfusions but that was because of all the blood they took from him for cultures and blood gases, routine stuff and his little bone marrow just couldn't keep up with the demand. He ended up coming home at 5lb9oz, his birth weight was 1lb13.5oz a full three weeks before his due date, so it is possible   Ask the NICU social workers at your hospital, they will be coming to you anyway to fill out social security paperwork for your son, they should know about what kind of assistance is available for NICU parents.