31 Weeks Pregnant I Found Out My Son Has 1 Artery in Umbilical Cord

C.,
Hey Hunnie! I have no experience with the umbilical cord, however, I do know that most childeren are born fighters. My daughter was born a month early...and she had been sending me into labor at 5 1/2 months along. I had to have 3 shots to stop labor. I too had a problem with finding premie cloths that would fit her. My mother actually came up with idea to buy her Cabbage Patch Cloths. (The Preemie cloths we did find were too large on her.) They are actually pretty inexpensive, and my friends and family were able to buy things for her that she would be able to wear right away. I hope that this helps, and I hope that your little one is born perfect. :) Please keep us all informed!

Hi C.. I am a 25 year old mom of 1. I have been married for 4 years, and I live in Rockford IL. I delivered my son early at 28 weeks and he weighed 2 lbs 14 oz. He was in the NICU for 8 weeks. The NICU I was in supplied the clothes for him while he was in the NICU and by the time he was released he could fit most newborn sized clothes although they were a little big. As already stated walmart does have some preemie clothes. My son is now 4 months old (2 months adjusted age), and weighs 12lbs! I second the suggestion to get the steroid shot that will help your babies lungs develop sooner. I had the betamethasone shot 2 weeks before I delivered and I think thats partly why my son was on a ventilator for only 28 hours. Betamethasone is a corticosteroid injected into the mom that somehow tells the baby to start producing surfactant. Surfactant help the lungs prepare for breathing air. Normally babies have produced enough surfactant on their own around 34 weeks. Try not to be scared, at 31 weeks you should already have a pretty good sized baby. I delivered at Loyola University Hospital as they have an excellent NICU. If you have any questions email me at ____@____.com

Hi C.,
my name is J.. I am sorry to hear you are going thru this with the new baby. Miracles do happen believe me. I had my first child 28 weeeks early. He was only 3lbs. 31/2oz. when he was born. he was in the hospital for a month and a half at 4lbs 6oz. well now he is 22 and you would never know he was premie. Well anyway all premie clothes were even to big for him. Now you can find premie clothes pretty much everywhere. The independence center has some and Baby r'Us has them. Anyway this is going to sound funny but we dressed my son in Cabbage Patch clothes. I was desperate for anything. well good luck with the new baby and take care. Keep your head up things will be fine. I said a lot of prayer also.

I went almost full term, but my little girl was tiny from a placenta abruption, I looked at Toys R Us in the baby section, at Target, at Kohls, walmart and Babies r us. Walmart has hit or miss, depending on which one, there are sleepers in packs of like 5 and there are a ton of sizes, sometimes they had premies, sometimes not, but look on the racks, where the individual sleepers hang, they have premies, and a ton, also Babies R Us was the only other place. With 3 kiddo's I am sure you are not rolling in money, so try Wal mart first, they have the outfits like that too, the baby section is split, a lot of 12 mo and over and then a few racks that have premie, new born, then 0-3 mo. clothes, just as cute and not so much $. Also the hospital gave us new born diapers, they were too big, Walmart has the premie diapers, we got the pampers swaddlers (Huggies makes premies too) her skin was so thin from being so tiny that the huggies cut right through the inside of her legs, plus the pampers were way cheaper and they have incentive points (check out their web site if you don't know about the awards program) I will pray for you tonight, good luck, and know that no matter what God will be with both of you.

I'm so sorry to hear about all of your complications. I will be praying for you and your family to get through this tough time! Now for the clothes, have you tried Burlington Coat Factory in the great mall? They have TONS of baby clothes, and they have a fair sized preemie section. They are pretty reasonable, too. Also, for the first year of my son's life, we got all his clothes at Children's Orchard and other resale shops like that. They are really cheap and you can get a lot there. The best of luck to you in your clothing search. I'll be thinking of you! God bless...

C. I'am so sorry to hear of your concerns.. How are things going for you right now have you had baby yet??? I do know that Other Mothers on Kearney has some premie clothes I hope all is going well and we will be praying for you...

I am extremely sorry for all the complications of your pregnancy! I don't know anything about what is going on or else I would try to help! I do know that Khols has many premie outfits! I have even found a bunch at target! Just a thought have you tried walmart? I hope everything goes good for you and your little one! Take care!
~ B. ~

C.,
I am sorry to hear about your complications. My youngest daughter(now 2 1/2) was born 6 weeks premature and weighed only 3lbs 11oz. She was in the hospital for a month so we didn't really have to have clothes for her while she was there, but we did find premie clothes for her at Wal-mart. Hope that helps.

Hello, I would look to see if there is a yahoo group with preemies, or search ebay for clothes.
You might even see if there are any local groups that help moms with clothes.

C.,

I too had the issue with only one artery in the umbilical cord with my oldest daughter. I was told at about 30 weeks that if she didn't show signs of growing that they would have to deliver her early. Low and behold at the next ultra sound she had grown and they didn't have to deliver her early. She did end up being born about 4 weeks early but she was fine at 5 pounds. We didn't use preemie clothes at all and the only issue we had was with diapers not fitting well. This was 16 years ago though and back then they only had diapers in small, medium, and large. Now there are so many more sizes in diapers that it shouldn't pose a problem at all.

D.

I am the mom of a 26 week Miracle Baby! Born at 1 lb 14 oz, he was in the NICU for 9 weeks and had his own clothes the whole time. Then when he came home he was in them until he was 6lbs. They have a line of preemie clothes at Walmart. There is a website called "The Store Preemie" also one called annaspreemie.com. They have sizes for micro preemies, like my son, on up to average sized babies. They also have the little vests that they have to wear while still in the warmer the first weeks after birth. One more bit of advice, don't go Preemie Shopping Crazy like I did because they grow out of them faster than you would think. He is 10 months old and 19lbs now. We ended up making a huge donation to the NICU back when my baby grew out of his stuff. Hang in there, you're in my prayers.

Hi C. - While I haven't been through your experience before, one of my best friends pregnancy had only 2 arteries in the umbilical cord. She was told about all the horrible things that could happen, multiple malformities, organ issues, etc. Their little miracle girl was born happy and healthy with little problems except horrible acid reflux. They are checking into some possible heart murmur, but she's 4 mo's old now and is wearing 12 mo old clothes! Keep your hopes up and have faith that your little guy will come through this on top. Also, if you are sure you'll need premie clothes try looking for a Once Upon a Child or a Children's Orchard. Both places are excellent at finding gently used kids clothes for low cost (trust me, they are very picky about their stuff). Good luck!!

C.,
I am so sorry for all of the complications. I am sure that you must be feeling completely out of control and very overwhelmed. It seems that there are already a lot of people praying for you and holding out hope, and you can add me to the list of those. I just dropped off some tiny preemie clothes at Goodwill on 135th and I-35 a couple of weeks ago, so they might still be there.
Also, if you are interested in having some support from a doula, I would love to offer my services! Please feel free to check out my website and contact me any time!
www.ashleydoula.blogspot.com
Blessings!
A.

C.,
I just had a baby at 30 weeks and 4 days gestation on June 8th. Please email me and I can tell you all about what to expect, where you can find clothes and just a shoulder to cry on in this stressful time.
____@____.com
A.

Chrystal, you may have already had your baby by now, but I just wanted to say that this same thing happened to me. My son only had one artery, but he was just fine. There are some genetic disorders associated with this condition, but he was lucky enough not to have them. Let me know how you and your baby are doing.

Hi C.,

Sorry to hear about the difficult pregnancy. That is very stressful I know. I am not really sure where to get preemie clothes other than the advice that has already been given on this thread. The Yahoo group was a good one, do you have a freecycle group in your area? If you do it might do some good to post your dilemma for preemie clothes on there and hopefully get some responses on that. As for the having a preemie I do know all about that! My youngest of three sons was born at 29 weeks, although for a different reason, my placenta abrupted. He was in the NICU for 86 days, almost three months. He is now almost 13. If you ever want anyone to talk to about being mother to a preemie email me at ____@____.com

Best of luck to you and yours!

A. :)

Same as tiffany, I don't know much about the health, but I found things for my daughter at Wal-Mart and Target. If you have time, look on-line there are things there too. Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

Hi C.. I am assuming since you're going to have a preemie you'll be delivering at St. John's. If that's correct you may want to contact NICUPS (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parents). They'll be able to tell you the spots to get clothes (Walmart I hear is great) and help you through this tough time.
Check them out at:
http://www.stjohnsmercy.org/services/nicups/default.asp
or call:
###-###-####

I'm sorry you are having problems, I cant help with the health issues but I found most of the preemie clothes we needed at WalMart, not a great selection, but better than any other place. Best of luck to you.