Hi Sari,
Welcome to Mother and Baby. My Lola was born at 36wks, not as early as Alivia but still considered prem. Sounds like she is doing really well now, i'm sure your a great mumma. You will find lots of support and advice on here and i''m sure there are many who will share a similar story.

Hey there - there is a lady in the due in august forum called feeona who had her little one very early - you could try talking to her???

Well done too and congrats

done hopefully they will answer out prayers!

i pm'd heidi too so i think they are going to get one

Afternoon......Feeona your story really bought tears to my eyes.....here is my story....
On 3rd March I woke up not feeling too well, David (dp) said that I was pale and I felt like I had gastro. I went to work and ended up coming home at lunchtime cause I was feeling worse. I noticed all day that bubs had not moved and I thought to myself that she might just to asleep or resting. I bascially stayed on the couch for the rest of the day. Tuesday morning I woke up feeling the same as I did the day before, but still no movement from bubs, I still went to work and actually worked all day. Wednesday with still no movement from bubs I started to worry. I went to work and called my obs, he said to ring Cabrini (where I was booked in for labour...) for foetal monitoring. I went there as soon as my legs could move me, thank god I was working in the city so the taxi ride only took 10 mins. I had monitoring for 4 hours, during this time I started to get pain down my right side of my tummy, sweating and nausea. David and my mum came to hospital to be with me. My obs came to see me and ordered for me to be sent straight to Monash as they cannot delivier babies under 25 weeks there....it was baout this time that I knew something was wrong.....I was rushed to Monash by ambulance with the sirens and lights going, my mum was with me and David followed the best he could....I was admitted at Monash at 3.45pm and had Alivia at 4.15pm. I had a general anesthetic and a c-section, so I missed it all, which breaks my heart when I think about it now. We were told that the baby had to come out as her heart beat was slowing down rapidly and my pain was increasing like crazy. Alivia was born with the cord around her neck twice which is very rare apparently. She was born at 1.1kg and 38 cms long. She was at Monash NICU for 2 weeks and 6 weeks in SCN (special care nursery), then 2 weeks at the nursey at Cabrini as she was one of the 'healthier' babies that could be moved to another hospital. We were told just before she was about to come home what actually happened, I had an concealed APH, which is a hemmorahge (sorry I can't spell it correctly!). I was internally bleeding into the plancenta and Alivia was living in it which is life threating for her and me. If I was to leave it any longer - even an hour, both of us could not be here now. The docs told me that I have a 50/50 chance of it happening again if we have another baby, so I am soooo scared to have another one, but I am blessed to have my little girl with me.
So that is my story, sorry it's a little bit long winded....Alivia was due on the 17th May 2008, she actually came home earlier than her due date...she came home on the 5th May 2008. She now weighs 5.2kgs. People keep asking me how old she is and when I say that she is nearly 6 months old they look at me in horror, so I just say that she was 10 weeks prem. Sometimes reactions are sympathy others are shocked.
She is still in new born clothes from Pumpkin Patch and 000 bonds wondersuits.
I still remember so clearly her in NICU with CPAP on (I am sure that you know what that is), nasal gastric tubes, IV's in her tiny arms and legs and under the UV for days and days - it honestly felt like it was never going to end.
She has a heart murmor, we thought she could be deaf in one ear but that seems to have sorted itself out, strawberry birth mark on her leg and a birth mark on the side of her face (near her hair line)that will need to be cut out when she gets older.
Milica is a gorgeous name, she was really a tiny tot, but they are amazing and very strong. Alivia is a very strong determined little girl that always has to have her own way all the time - I have been told that is a premmie trait so beware!!
I would love to show you some early photos and now photos but I am not sure how to attach them!!
Take care.....Sari

Hey Feeona,
Alivia has a heart murmor, not a tumor...but that's ok. That is great about the rocker and pram. We did not get to do that, we once took her to the parents lounge in cabrini but we never ventured out the nursery besides that. I am so thrilled for you. Do you have prepare your home for her arrival?
Alivia had an infection about 2 weeks after she was born, we were told that the accept babies with 5% infection level, she had 75%. So she was a very sick little girl at one stage. She was on anti-biotics for 2 weeks, back in NICU and back on CPAP. Thankfully, her levels dropped but she was very closely monitored. We also had alot of brady's and d-sats - do you know what they are?? I remember a day where she was having brady after brady....I was in tears all day and never left her side.....
I used to talk to her alot and read to her. I used to calm her down. I used to love kangaroo cuddles too...they were the best.
Monash nursery is amazing, I never realised how many premmie babies there are...at one stage the whole nursery was so full that there were babies hooked up to monitors in the nurses store room. I think they were also flying bub's interstate too.
Alivia came home on the 5th May....I was due on the 17th May.
I used to call the nursery in the morning when I woke up, then went in with the EBM with my mum till about lunch, then go home, express, ring again, express, go in with David for a few hours, come home, express, call again than sleep. I did that the whole time she was at Monash, it really used to wear me down.
I have just recently been diagnosed with having reactive depression - it is like a delayed reponse to what happened with Alivia and what could of happened. I did try to go back to work just for 2 days a week, but my shrink advised me to give it up and be a full time mum to Alivia. So this is my first week being a full time mummy, and i love it. I go to the shrink every week for a total of 6 weeks, I have been once so far and she seems really nice and completley understands why I have panic attacks and break down in tears.....I am sure that you understand.

That is ok Feeona, it's ok about the tumor/murmor thing, no sweat.
It is amazing when I look back at the days when Alivia was in hospital and wonder how I got through it all.....I think I did cause it had to be done and the fact I felt it owed it to her. I still feel guilty for what she went through, I know that I could not do anything about it but I still felt for her, being apart from me and David. It is hard to explain.
I remember being told "you can take her home by the end of the week"...I was in shock, did not have anything ready for her as I did not want to set it up, so we frantically did her room and tried to get as much as sleep as possible!!!!! Oh yeah, sleep now while you can...!! Alivia is just now sleeping through the night, after being home for 3 months!
We did not tell anyone when she was coming home either, we suprised all our parents and friends. My mum was in tears when we called them and told to drop in by. It felt like the end of one journey and the begining of another.
We have regualr check ups at the maternal health care clinic and monthly visits to her baby doctor, she was on iron ferris (liquid iron) and that only stopped about a month ago thank goodness and is on pentavite, which is a liquid multi vitamin, she will be on that till she is 1.
I'm so glad to finally have met someone in my siutation, I tried to talk to the mums in the nursery but they are that focused on their bubs that it is was near impossible to have a conversation with them...
Anyway Alivia is due her last bottle for the day, so good night, take care and chat soon.

well were just waiting 4 one now