Premature babies support group

Hi everyone,

I am so happy to chance upon this thread! Was searching about coping with premature babies when I found it.

My baby girl was born at 25 weeks in KKH on 5th Feb 2012 due to preeclampsia condition. I was admitted after one of my routine checkups on the 1st and I was informed about the possibility of delivering early. Was totally shocked cos I knew nothing about such a condition. I was praying and hoping that she could at least stay inside my womb for at least another 4 weeks.

I was also very worried about my baby being born so early cos she is also small for her gestation age (517g at birth). No choice had to do emergency caesarean cos I experienced a very bad headache and gastric pains suddenly in the middle of the night. Doctor said my blood pressure was extremely high and had to deliver

Now she has put on weight and the nurses are steadily increasing her BM intake. Very very happy cos so far so good.

Regarding KKH NICU, I noticed that recently there have been a lot of babies. When my baby girl entered, there was only 1 other baby in the same room. Suddenly, the room was full in the next week. Subsequently, I saw that they opened up another room and it is totally filled. Last Sunday when I went down to visit my baby, the nurse said a lot of very small babies being delivered recently. And at least 2 babies in every room that are very small (25-27 weeks).

I'm also worried about having another baby cos I don't want my baby to go through what my baby girl is going through now
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I initially wanted at least 3 but after going through this scary experience, I'm thinking twice about it.

Got a question to ask.. for those mummies whose babies will be in NICU long-term, will you be pumping milk every 3 hours all the way? How about after returning to work? I was advised by the lactation consultant to pump 3 hourly for 1 month, then increase to 4 hourly for 1 week, then to 5 hourly for 1 week. After that can pump 6 hourly. My supply is quite consistent but it's really super tiring to keep up with 3 hourly. Sometimes when I go visit baby or go out awhile, there will be a time lag or sometimes just cannot wake up. Then I will experience breast engorgement and have to massage like mad to make them soft again. I'm afraid that if I decrease the frequency, my supply will drop.
 


Hi I have a ameda dual pump to sell. Used only a few times. Bought it from usa hence a transformer is needed.

Pls pm me if interested. Thks.
 
Hi sun kissed,

My baby stayed in kkh for 4 months plus and I pump every three hourly as I want to make sure my supply doesn't drop when she s discharge as I want her to latch on. Sometimes i even pump 2 n half hourly. I know it's very tiring to pump every three hour. I carried my pump with me wherever I go. I even pump in the car, of course everything gotta be cleaned n sterilized. Sometimes I even throw away the breast milk if i hv no time to sterilized the pump beforehand. I can't live without my pump during that 4 months.
 
Hi sunkissed,

My baby stayed in KKH for 4 mths and I extended my leave.
For 7 mths, I pumped 8 times a day. During the first 2 months- 3 hourly. Subsequently the last pump will be at 12am. Next pump at 5am. Then 7am then 9am. Then 12,3,6,9pm. I get to sleep 5 hours straight n yet maintain number of pumps. Closer interval in the morning cos supply better in the morning. Like lyteh, my pump follows me everywhere n I dun go out for extended period.

Any excess can be stored . I bought a separate deep chest freezer.after I went back to work , I reduced to 5 times a day , supply keeps dropping... Even with supplements n nursing tea. Now I pump 3-4 times a day. The excess breastmilk I stored helped to ensure my baby hv breastmilk for as long as possible.

You are blessed with gd consistent supply so keep it up!
happy.gif

Jia you!
 
hui: how does gynae determine if you need cerclage?
My first was a 33 weeker (no symptoms or problems detected during pregnancy but had bleeding at week 28, where gynae gave me jab to speed up lung development) and n am worried that my current pregnancy will have history repeating itself.
 
hi sallynah,
Simple tips i can offer for bringing baby home: Premmies are generally sleepy and insecure. They cry alot too, especially when they are adapting to a new environment. Always assure bb by talking softly or humming songs. Wrapping them snugly during zzz-ing time oso helps. Do watch that you do not overfeed your bb cos his/her stomach and digestive system are really still fragile. Slowly increase their milk intake and not rush to increase their milk.
 
blessed kodomo,
based on my previous 2 pregnancies of water bag burst prematuredly, my gynae suggests cerclage, but he also not 100% certain if it'll keep bb inside till full term, coz there are simply too many uncertainties.

how many weeks are u now? if u r still in 1st trimester, maybe u can seek your gynae's opinion on whether it is recommended?
 
hi hui, my water bag also burst prematurely for my second pregnancy. Did your gynae share why your waterbag burst?

Re: Insurance
just want to check if any mummies managed to obtain hospitalization and surgery insurance for your premmie? and if yes, can you let me know which company? my boy is coming to 3 years old and we tried to get him insured under Great Eastern but they rejected our application. Sigh.... that's already the 5th time they rejected our application. I just want a H&S coverage also so difficult....
 
Helor mummies n daddies,

I given birth middle Dec when bb is 30wk+3days n bb has been staying at KKH till now almost coming to 3 mths. She is having problem with taking milk by bottle and thus, she will need to discharge with tube feeding. Any parents baby discharge before with tube feeding and how long does it take not to put bb on the tube?

Thank you in advance.
 
Hi Ning and lyteh,

I'm impressed with both your discipline to pump so frequently for extended periods. Will try my best to keep it up. Currently, the freezer that we bought is very full. Luckily my baby is taking in much more milk than before so I will try to bring more supply to the hospital soon.

Lyteh, how is your baby doing after you brought her home? Did the nurses allow your baby to latch on towards the end of the hospital stay? By the way, would like to enquire about your baby's hospital bill. You paid all using medisave or what?

Wondering if anyone here managed to get financial help for baby's stay in NICU.
 
Hi Sunkissed. My girl was a 29 weeker n she stay in KKH for 46 days (1st wk in NICU) n her bill was ard $15,000 paid thru my medisave. If u need financial help, u can approach the medical social worker for help. Their office can be accessed beside Macs.
 
Hi sun kissed,

My baby is doing well. Home environment is better hence , she able to gain weight well.

Once ur baby ready for bottling, you may request to latch on. For me , i stationed myself at scn from afternoon till 8 pm for two weeks so I can breastfeed her three times out of eight times. Don't worry as the nurses there are pro breastfeeding. They will help you through.

Our hospital bill is around 35 k. Yes, used up all of our medisave n need to pay extra 4k cash. U may apply for financial help n according to them, you need to justify your current financial situation by providing a lot documentation ie monthly expenses, installment n so on.

Hope it helps!!! Jia you!!!
 
Hi Sweetie Sweet81,
My baby boy 27weeker, stayed in KKH nicu/scn for about 4.5 months last year. Went home with tube feeding and was successfully weaned off in a month. Home environment is better, speak positive words over your baby, have faith in your little one that she can soon quickly weaned off. Jia you!
 
Hi lilac & hui,
My water bag also burst prematurely (pprom) after amniocentesis tests, 17week and gave birth to my baby boy at 27week...
Lilac, about insurance, GE rejected me once and now they want me to provide them my boy's detail medical report for their review. Since they have rejected you 5 times, just wonder if you have also try other insurance firm on H&S plan? Thanks :p
 
Hi Sunkissed,

My babies were born 2 weeks ahead of yours, also at KKH. Is your girl in the first room on the right hand side when entering NICU? I also noticed that it was empty then suddenly full.

Lactation consultant also told me I could drop pumps once it was past 28 days and after I had reached 800mls per day. However in my case, she wanted me to try for more supply, because mine are twins, so I am still pumping 8 times a day currently. When I reach my target supply I will try dropping pumps slowly and see if can maintain same amount of milk. If supply drops then I guess I will have no choice but to up back to 8 times.

I agree that it is quite tiring to live your life in 3-hourly cycles. I haven't tried pumping outside of home or NICU though. For other mummies who did -- I suppose you must have pumped in the breastfeeding rooms in shopping malls?
 
Hi Mr Q and lyteh,

Is the amount a lot lesser than the initial estimated bill that the hospital staff gave? Mine is estimated to be 60k for 163 days and in 24 days already incurred 8k to be paid.

I actually quit my job in November to prepare for the pregnancy cos my job was quite stressful. Was intending to go back to work after my baby is born but didn't expect her to be born prematurely. Now also in a dilemma whether to go search for work cos I want to be around for the first few months when my baby is out and definitely no companies will let me do that.

We are on the subsidised class in KKH and didn't like that we had to keep seeing different doctors every visit. In fact, we were going to change to private gynae right after that last checkup during which I was hospitalised. I'm so glad I didn't change or else the bill will be even worse.

Social worker said we can use our family members' Medisave to help to cover some of the costs but I also don't want to wipe out my parents' Medisave.. Hoping that the bill will not end up being so much
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Hello Blossom,

My baby girl is in the 2nd room from the left. Yours is in the first room on the right? I always thought that was a newly opened room. The baby beside mine is also a twin but he's separated from his twin who is in the 1st room from the left.

The nursing room in NICU is not bad. First nursing room I stepped into. Will try to pump there next time. Been researching about nursing rooms in malls to prepare once I start going out.

Can refer to these websites:
http://bumblebeemum.wordpress.com/nursing-rooms/
http://singaporemummy.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=191&Itemid=130#unitedsq

By the way, if you're working, are you intending to go back to work while your twins are in NICU or wait until they're out first?
 
hi lilac,
there's no explanation on why my waterbag burst prematuredly...maybe my waterbag is just very thin, prone to break easily. but since had 2 pregnancies like that, so 3rd pregnancy just be safe n keep to advice: not to carry heavy loads, limit walking n had cerclage as double protection!
 
Hi Sunkissed,

Medical social worker told us that the initial bill would be high, then the daily expense would taper down as time passes and the babies need less support. I think mine are at $15K and $12k the last time I looked.

I quit my job too actually, but not because of the pregnancy. I don't see how I can cope with waking up twice a night to pump and visiting babies and working/job hunting at the same time. What with twins AND premature babies who need more care when brought home AND lots of follow up hospital visits, I don't think I will be going back to work any time soon.
 
eipng, I can understand why they rejected me initially.... especially when my boy was just discharged from the hospital. But I heard that they will usually accept him once he turned 2 years old. My agent is with GE and she tried to appeal but to no avail. I went through the same process of photocopying all the relevant medical condition. GE also obtain the letter from my boy's neonatalist. The report simply states what condition he has during his stay in hopsital. I probably will try with another insurance company. One of my friends whose boy is also premature managed to obtain H&S insurance from aviva upon discharged! Am thinking of trying for that....

hui, are you expecting the 3rd one? Wow! I must salute you.... especially after 2 premature birth. My hubby and I were planning for 3 kids... in not for the premature birth of my 2nd boy, we probably will be expecting/delievered our 3rd child liao....God's plan bah...
 
Sunkissed- pumping 3 hourly is tiring but it gave me something to do.. Something to distract myself.
The medical fees shld be higher initially cos NICU charges r very high. There r help available if you need financial assistance , so dun worth at this point.

Agree that nursing room in NICU is gd, SCN nursing room is much smaller.
 
Lilac, hope you get insurance coverage for baby soon.
My baby coming to AA 12 mths. But my agent advised us to wAit a while more. Chances of it getting rejected is still high according to his experience.
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I read the archival of this thread and remembered that someone managed to get fr AVIVA too
 
Sunkissed, the estimated cost was ard $50,000 based on the avg stay of 90 days it also depends on individual baby condition n how long is e stay at NICU where costs is much higher. Of coz if mother chose ward C will be cheaper for baby too. My wife chose Ward C but got upgraded as ward C full n she got free upgrade to aircon ward
 
sunkissed,

I just looked at my girl's bill for KKH. She spent 41 days in NICU and 18 days in SCN, so total 59 days. The bill after govt grant (downgrade to C class) was $23K. So it seems like 60k for 163 days is about right. It may be somewhat less than 60k because SCN costs about $100/day and NICU is $200/day. And there will be other charges for meds, nurse care, surgery etc.

I can't find my boy's bill, which was approx $100K+ for 281 days. I do know of one family who had a 9 month stay in NICU+SCN and sought the help of the social workers in KKH. I think they managed to get the bill down to about 40K and are paying that in installments. But I believe you have to meet some kind of financial hardship guideline for that.
 
Hi Ning, thks for your advise. My baby is in SGH. The nurse told us that there will be courses for us to enroll b4 our baby go home..

Hi blessed kodomo, thks for your tip. I'll definately keep this in mind. Thanks!
 
Hi Sunkissed, it's important to continue to express your milk 3hrly. Good to stock up and even when your baby is home you still can continue to give it to her.
I only manage to do it for 1 mth plus than I stopped cos I fall sick for 1 week and got lazy to express my milk... eventually my supply gets lesser and lesser... now that I stopped I feel very bad about it. I should continue than.
 
Hi Sunkissed, my baby is in SGH not too sure if the charges is the same as KKH. My baby was trf from Mount A. to SGH and the bill from 1 Feb till now is 39K excluding govt grant. After govt grant is 13K. We managed to downgrade to class C. As of now, we need not pay any cash as all is deducted thru medisave.
 
Hi Mummies

Can we get our baby insurance if baby is still in NICU? Or we can only do so once baby discharge? Which insurance is recommended or suitable to get for baby? For your advise. Thanks!
 
Lilac,
i've already delivered my 3rd child. haha. bb coming 8mths le. it is this 3rd pregnancy that i did the cerclage and i'm grateful for it although my bb still come out 36 weeker.

sally,
i won't be surprise that no insurance company will accept insurance when bb still in nicu. your insurance agent can still submit for reviews/approvalif bb still in nicu, but likely reject. wait till bb discharge and condition stable then better chance of approval, but they would exclude all existing known medical conditions in their terms.
 
Hi onefish,

Realised your boy stayed so long in hospital. Were there major problems? And 100k is a lot!! Paid by installments? I wouldn't say my financial situation is extremely bad but neither is it good. Pregnancy was actually unplanned and both our medisaves already wiped out. We haven't been working for long and now I'm also not working. Nvm take one step at a time..

Hmm that means the estimated length of stay is just a guide la.. Hopefully my girl won't have major problems and stay for too long.

Sally,

Such a pity that your baby doesn't have bm anymore
sad.gif
so now it's totally formula? How is she handling it? I just increased to pumping 4 hourly, supply seems okay and 4 hourly intervals are a lot more manageable I feel. Shall monitor and see if supply drops.
 
Yesterday evening while pumping, I discovered 2 lumps in left breast so I went to massage them until they went away. Breasts ended up very sore. Then I developed a fever right after the next pumping session. Took panadol and went to sleep and it was gone when I woke up for the next session. Not sure if it's mastitis.. anyone experienced before?
 
Lilac
My boy was borned @ 31 weeks with a weight of 1.62kg.. His hospitalization policy was rejected once when he was few months old, then my AIA agent said he will try again when he reached 1 year old and AIA approved when he hit 1..

I had cerclarge done around week 13.. I had 3 miscarriages b4 my boy.. First 2 during early stage and the 3 one water bag burst during week 16.. So gynae kiasu abit told me to go for it..
 
Sunkissed, you can ask the NICU nurses about the lumps and fever. They can get one of the sisters/ nurse clinicians who are lactation trained to help you. I had lumps too and mentioned it to my baby's nurse. She got the sister on duty that day to take a look at them in the breastfeeding room and help see if there was a problem.
 
Sunkissed,

My boy had more problems than most preemies. Long stay due to o2 dependence. He's more or less ok today at 21mos corrected :eek:) Hubby and I are US-based and thankfully our insurance paid majority of costs..our out of pocket for my 10 wk bedrest, plus the twins was SGD 14k. You would have to talk to the KK social workers for more info.. I recall someone saying that their questioning can get quite personal, so be mentally prepared.

Estimated stay is based on time to baby's due date, cos most preemies are discharged around then.

If you are visiting daily, just call or ask for one of the lactation consultants..they are usually v helpful and friendly.

Hope your little one is doing well.
happy.gif
 
hi hui, thks for your advise on the insurance. Shall wait for my bb to come home than plan for it.

hi sunkissed, yes, my bb is having premilk now. I would say he is handling well. When he reach 1.5kg than the nurse will change to another type of milk for him. I suppose it's formula milk and more rich type.
 
We've just managed to get the hospitalization insurance from Prudential for my gal recently. She is 29 months now, borned in 30 weeks.

We did check with our insurance agent when she was around half year old, but cannot get according to the agent there is no insurance company that will insured premature baby before they are 2 years old.

So we start checking out when she turned 2 years old. There are some problems at the beginning also to get the insurance, but in the end also resolved. so luckily now we got her the insurance without excluding any terms.
 
I went to hospital last night to visit my baby but I was feeling fine so didn't inform the nurse. Went home and got a fever again
sad.gif
Now I'm just continuing my panadol dosage for now and hope the fever doesn't return anymore!

The aviva person just called me and arranging a meet up with me next week in KKH. Shall enquire with her about insurance for premmies.
 
onefish,

Baby is doing fine
happy.gif
gaining weight and gradually increasing feeds.

Yup social worker said we have to try and use family members' medisave first then can try applying for assistance.
 
dear all, thanks so much for the information on insurance. Appreciates that alot.... I guess the feeling of being rejected numerous times doesn't feel good. As it is, we are already facing uphill task caring for our premmies. I can understand their rationale and like what my agent says, the insurance company is 'kiasi'..... I guess its also the process of having to meet up with different insurance agents, repeat my story, make copies of all the medical reports that make me sianz. Plus he is already 3 years old lor. Oh well.... sorry, just ranting here.

lyteh, I thought medishield is auto-inclusion? Well, I think for mine, it is cos' we received a letter informing us about that. But I think there were some mummies here who received a letter which informed them that their babies cannot be included.

Blossom, I was on the verge of buying one freezer but in the end did not cos' not sure what to do with that. When I was making enquires, I found out that you can actually rent one. Rent a freezer or something like that. But not too sure how clean it is lah...

Hui, wow! I salute you! Were you anxious during the 2nd and 3rd pregnancy? Did you work or stayed at home?

Jaigebaby, was surfing the net and cerclage appears to be the method used for premature rupture of membrane. Is it expensive and what kind of follow-up was there?
 
Blossom,

The height of the freezer I got is until slightly below my hip (I'm 1.61m). It managed to store about 1 month's supply of milk before I started bringing over. Now I have to keep bringing the EBM over cos not much space left.

How are your twins doing btw?
 
Hi lilac, my girl medishield got rejected as we need to declare her health condition to cpf board. At first we received a letter saying that she got her medishield, but after the health declaration, we received another letter saying that they don't cover premature baby n hence got rejected. We r in d mist of appealing. Wondering any mommies here have any advise for me?
 
Lyteh
My boy got medishield but got exclusion..

Lilac
Mine becoz gynae suspect incompetance cervix so he suggested cerclarge.. After that i had to go for weekly injection.. Hb kiasu abit so told me minimum walking.. I cant remember exactly how much but i stayed in B1 and tink 1nite, bill was abt $1k+..
 
Hi Jagiebaby,

My insurance agent that time told us even if we managed to buy in any, there will be problem at the point of making a claim. So we didnt ask other agent. Like lilac said, it is already so tired to take care of baby so a bit lazy that time.

As for medishield, i thought is auto-inclusion also. Cos my hubby received a letter then he just filled up and post back only.

Lilac,
Where to rent a freezer? I'm very interested to rent one as I'm pregnant with no2 now, and in my 17 weeks. I think better to have one, but if buy a new one, later after 1-2 years also headache.

For mummy who gave birth in KKH,
Anyone has the experience of seeing a fixed gynae (means under the non-subsidised rate) for your prenatal check up and then changed to subsidised package during the delivery? I'm currently seeing random gynae in KKH, so far so good. Only feeling those gynae might be quite fresh and with my previous complications (i've a PROM, that my private gynae also dunno the reason)I'm worry they will overlooked my case. But if i go for the fixed gynae, then I'll fall into the non-subsidized group, if anything similar like my first one happened again, then the bill will be huge.

Anyone got similar experience to share? If you got pregnant again after a premature birth, what kind of thing that should be considered when choosing a gynae?
 
Aixin
When I preggy with my boy, I was seeing gynae at TPS, fixed gynae.. When I admitted during week 26, my gynae told me to choose class c in order to lessen my baby's bill.. So when I admitted again on week 28, I choose class c.. Then at week 31, my waterbag burst so I immediately choose class c, so my boy was under subsidized rate till now when he go for checkups, its still under subsidized rate..
 

lilac,
i am a sahm, hence i can stay home n rest n minimise walking. but still i am very kan cheong abt my 2nd and 3rd pregnancy too, coz scared of prematured births.

i remember the cost of cerclage total is also ard $1k+. most of it is gynae's operation cost, the rest is day surgery operating theater cost. but if u asked your gynae, he/she would be able to tell u how much.

my #2, the earliest prematured, 32wk+6days, i managed to get him covered under totalshield from GEL before he turn 1 yr old. maybe coz he does not have any major prematured problems, so it went thru without any hiccups. my #1, 35wk covered under totalshield too ard 1+yr. his coverage exclude inguinal hernia which he underwent during his 1mth. #3, 36wk, cover under same plan without any problem in 6mths.
 
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