Coming home on oxygen - what to expect?

[YouAreMyRain]

My baby boy was born at 30 weeks, now 35 wks gestational age, he has hit 4lbs and they are talking about letting him come home soon but he might still be on oxygen (nasal prongs).

What would this entail? Is it manageable or a nightmare? I have two older dc and keep imagining them tripping over, and getting tangled up in, miles of trailing tubing.

[missingink]

Hi, firstly congratulations. He has done really well. My DD was born at 29 weeks and came home after 16 weeks. Do you know if they intend for him to be on oxygen all the time? My DD was on night time only, which was really pretty easy. The cables are long so I could move her from our room to a spare room to feed her. The worst bit was putting the nasal prongs in, not that it was difficult but she always hated it! We had a small portable oxygen cylinder which we took with us when out and about in case she needed it - it fitted into a small rucksack. I know that if children need to be on long term oxygen you can get a more permanent system intalled where you 'plug in' to the wall, thus avoiding cables trailing all over the place - I'm sure you'll find this won't be necessary though. Good luck!

[YouAreMyRain]

Thanks for the response. Not sure exactly what his oxygen requirements will be yet. They are doing the sleep study on Monday so we will know more then.

[NewToAllThis11]

Hello and congratulations! My DS was born at 27 weeks and came home on oxygen in July. I was quite worried about it but it's more annoying than stressful. There's a thread of mine about it which gave me loads of good advice, do if you search for my name you should find it. DS came home on .3 l and is currently on .2l.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't really, really looking forward to him coming off oxygen, so I can carry him around freely, put him in a sling etc. but you get used to it really quickly and I still take him to baby groups and out and about.

[Eostre]

Congratulations on your son - it sounds like he's doing great, although I'm sure it's been a very difficult time for you and your family.
My DD was born at 25+1 and came home on oxygen.
We tried to keep trailing tubing to a minimum by using Posys (the little blue velcro things) to attach it to the bannister etc to keep it out of the way. We also had a shorter length for upstairs (where the oxygen concentrator was) and then a really long one for when she was downstairs, which we swapped over as necessary through the day.
The portables are great for getting out and about (it helps to have a pram with a sturdy basket underneath, but they're not too heavy to carry).
You get used to the baby having a 'tail' that you have to avoid around the house, so your DC might well be fine once you all adjust.
It was a bit of a PITA, to be honest, but it's worth it to have your baby home rather than in hospital and, like anything else, you get used to it.
Good luck - I hope your DS comes home soon.

[livenlet]

Congrats on baby boy . I had a 3 year old when I came home with baby she was always tripping on long tubing so I had the condenser in my room for baby at night and used portable when in rest of the house makes life much easyer oxegen seplyers were great just call them before u run out you do get used to it so dont worry